Connecticut Amendment Would Enshrine Protections for Gender Identity, Abortion

Connecticut Democrats are looking to enshrine discrimination protections for abortion and gender identity into the state Constitution.

The measure, Senate Joint Resolution No. 4, would add state’s equal protection clause and bar discrimination “based on pregnancy, including preventing, initiating, continuing, or terminating a pregnancy; sexual orientation; gender identity and expression; and related health care.”

“Supporters say this measure simply strengthens Connecticut’s right to privacy, but those opposed are concerned this proposal would open the door to issues in areas like abortion and women’s sports,” FOX61 reported. 

Co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) Kim Jones said the measure is “an egregious abuse of women.”

“We don’t allow adults to compete against children. We don’t allow doped athletes to compete against clean athletes. We don’t allow men to compete against women,” Jones said. 

“As soon as you say you have to be able to recognize someone’s gender identity at the same value of sex, what you are saying is that you’ve got a conflict and you’re going to recognize that a male, his beliefs, his sense of self, is allowed to supersede or be equated to the value of the rights of a woman based on her sex,” she added. 

Pro-life groups have also warned against the proposal because it could open the doors to more abortions later in pregnancy.

“Abortion is already legal in Connecticut. The only thing this (amendment) would do is make it even easier than it already is to have a late-term abortion. This is abortion right up to birth. Do we want that in Connecticut? No,” said Peter Wolfgang, the executive director of the Family of Institute of Connecticut.

Democrat Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney claims the amendment is simply about “the much broader question of right to privacy” and said lawmakers are “not creating any new rights at all.”

“It is a fundamental protection that people have relied upon in various contexts since 1965,” Looney said. “We already have a statute that protects abortion rights in the state because we put into statute back in 1990, the language of Roe v. Wade, and we still believe that reflects the will of the people of Connecticut, but we’re talking about a far more aggressive attack on privacy rights now than anything just related to Roe v. Wade or the abortion issue, per se.”   

If the legislature passes the resolution, it will appear on the ballot in the upcoming November election for voters to decide on. To pass the legislature, the bill requires a 75 percent majority approval in both the state House and Senate.