Connecticut Public Radio | As abortion care providers see greater demand, CT's Blumenthal proposes legislation to boost funding

By Sujata Srinivasan | Originally Published by Connecticut Public Radio

Hours after the Supreme Court Thursday allowed emergency abortions to continue temporarily in Idaho, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, announced a bill to expand abortion care in states where it remains legal.

“The Access Act [Abortion Care Capacity Enhancement and Support Services] will provide resources so that providers, clinics, hospitals, have the capacity to provide health care to women seeking abortions in states like Connecticut where they're guaranteed," Blumenthal said at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Hartford.

The bill seeks to establish a federal grant program funded at $1 billion over five years at a time when what Blumenthal said is the Supreme Court’s ducking and dodging of a total ban in Idaho.

“Now a significant number of states, and that number may increase, have these kinds of bans and restrictions,” he said. “The good news is that constitutional state amendments will be on the ballot in Colorado, Florida, Montana, Maryland and other states, and there is a real reaction to assert and protect women's rights.”

An estimated 171,000 patients in the U.S. traveled across state lines since the Dobbs decision to access abortion care “if they can afford to travel at all,” said Liz Gustafson, state director at Reproductive Equity Now.

She said federal funds are needed to meet the demand.

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England saw a 70% increase in out-of-state patients coming to its clinics in Connecticut and Rhode Island for abortion care in the first years after Dobbs, a 121% increase in the most recent year.

“But even with these increases, the overall number of patients coming from band or restricted states remains less than 1% of patients we see for abortion care overall,” said Gretchen Raffa, the organization’s vice president of public policy.

When the state legislature passed the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act in 2022, providers of abortion care to out-of-state patients were protected legally and the state repealed a medical restriction, which allowed Advanced Practice clinicians to be trained to provide first trimester procedural abortion.

“So it's increased capacity here at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England,” she said.

Blumenthal said he and the bill’s co-sponsors would push to get the legislation passed in the Senate.

“We need 60 votes, so we'll have to enlist some of our Republican colleagues, but I think that we have a hope, and we're going to fight for it,” he said.