Following the reelection of Donald Trump to the American presidency, a coalition of law firms, the state’s attorney general, and the Reproductive Equity Now Foundation (REN) launched the Connecticut Abortion Legal Hotline Friday.
At his office in Hartford, the mood was tense as Connecticut Attorney General Willam Tong braced for a fight.
“There is in this country now a war on American women and patients,” he said. “Texas is the front, Mississippi is the front, Florida, Louisiana. And on the front, health care for women is closed, abandoned, shuttered, gone.”
Injecting a personal note, Tong talked of his wife Liz and her complicated pregnancies — the couple has three children.
“When I read about women in Texas dying now, left or dead in hospital parking lots because they can't get a D&C [dilation and curettage] when they're in the middle of a miscarriage and in the process of bleeding out, I think of my wife,” he said. “In a different time and place, what would have happened to us?”
The hotline, operated by REN 24/7, will offer pro bono legal guidance to abortion providers in Connecticut and patients seeking abortion care in the state. Callers will be connected to information about the constitutional rights and protections they have under Connecticut law to seek or to perform an abortion.
“This hotline will be a lifeline in a second hostile Trump administration,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, president of REN. “Attorney General [Ken] Paxton in Texas has made clear that he will go after the private health care records of patients. There is a law on the books in Texas that allows you, as any person, to file a lawsuit against a provider for offering abortion care. So we should very much anticipate that that is coming to all states.”
She said a REN team member would respond within three business days, and connect callers with pro bono legal support from attorneys volunteering their time, from Rowthorn Law LLC, Franklin and Frankel Law, Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder PC and Silver Golub & Teitell LLP.
REN is looking for more law firms to step in, and translation services are available.
Officials said the hotline can answer legal questions like:
- I’m an abortion provider offering care to patients from out of state. How can I make sure I’m fully protected from out-of-state litigation or harassment?
- I’m a patient traveling to Connecticut for care. What are my legal rights to obtain an abortion?
- I’m a parent of a child in a banned state who needs abortion care. How can I help them access that care?
Just prior to the overturning of the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022, Connecticut passed the first shield law in the U.S., the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, protecting patients and providers from out-of-state litigation or extradition.
Tong said to date, there were no lawsuits from out-of-state against abortion care providers in Connecticut, and patients who sought care in the state. The concern now, he said, is that could soon change.
You or someone you know can call the hotline at 833-309-6301, or go to www.reproequitynow.org.
