Abortion has been CT law since 1990. With the end of Roe vs. Wade, here’s why it will be an election issue.

Election year debates over taxes, inflation and crime will take on another contentious issue: the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the 49-year constitutional right to abortion that could figure in the battle for control of the Connecticut General Assembly.

Since 1990, Connecticut law has protected the right to an abortion until the fetus can live independently outside the womb. Advocates for women’s access to abortion, their allies in the legislature and Gov. Ned Lamont enacted legislation this year strengthening abortion access in Connecticut by anticipating restrictions or bans by other states once the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that found abortion to be a constitutional right.

At least 16 states, including Connecticut, permit abortion and at least 19 states prohibit the procedure, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In addition to Connecticut, New York has adopted a law to protect abortion providers from extradition, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that backs abortion rights. California, Delaware and other states are considering similar measures, it said.

Opponents to the new state law that took effect Friday could find themselves on the defensive in a political landscape that’s changed quickly since the Supreme Court announced its 5-4 ruling June 24.

Shifting to the states

The emotional issue of abortion is shifting to the states, just as the Supreme Court majority who ruled against Roe vs. Wade and a separate 1992 abortion case ordered when they said the “authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”

The Senate’s Republican leadership said the loss of Roe vs. Wade will not alter abortion policy in the state.

“The Supreme Court’s decision does not change a woman’s right to choose in the state of Connecticut, nor will it,” said Sen. Kevin Kelly of Stratford, the minority leader, and Sen. Paul Formica of East Lyme, Republican leader pro tem.

The Supreme Court decision “does not and will not change the Connecticut laws that have embedded these protections in state law,” the lawmakers said.

However, majority Democrats say the GOP has more explaining to do.

Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney of New Haven cited this year’s legislation that protects out-of-state patients seeking abortion services in Connecticut from legal action by states that have outlawed abortion. The measure, which passed the Senate 25-9 and the House 87-60 in April, also protects in-state abortion providers and others.

Democrats will make the legislation an issue “for those voting against it,” Looney said in an interview.

It passed with broad Democratic support and strong Republican opposition, though partisanship was blurred as lawmakers of the two parties were on both sides of the issue. Sen. Patricia Billie Miller, D-Stamford, opposed the measure, criticizing early abortion practices as targeting Black and other minority communities.

“They took advantage of people who didn’t know better,” she said during Senate debate in April.

State Rep. Terrie Wood, a Darien Republican, voted for the measure, saying she has consistently supported abortion rights.

Looney said Republicans also could be asked their views on Connecticut’s 1990 law. “The issue is still relevant,” he said.

State Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott voted against this year’s abortion legislation and said fellow Republicans should embrace the demise of Roe vs. Wade. In a statement the day the Supreme Court handed down its decision, he said he’s embarrassed for Connecticut Republicans “who seem to feel the need today to distance themselves from the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade for fear of being mistaken for actual Republicans.”

“Contrary to some of the hysteria coming from Democrats and some of my more cowardly Republican colleagues, Roe v. Wade has always been suspect as far as its constitutional validity,” he said.

End to Roe vs. Wade is ‘part of Republican politics’

The Supreme Court’s decision followed decades of careful and steady work by Republicans and conservative activists who brought challenges to abortion laws at the state level across the U.S. and built a super-majority on the high court that struck down the 1973 ruling.

Moderate Republicans who support a woman’s right to abortion won’t find much protection against the wrath from pro-choice activists because the end to Roe vs. Wade is “part of Republican politics,” said Gary Rose, chairman of the Department of Government at Sacred Heart University.

Republicans in Connecticut will “find themselves on the defensive irrespective of what they think,” he said.

Connecticut Republicans believe they have other issues to challenge Democrats: the highest inflation in 40 years and the most painful gas prices in memory. “People are grousing about how much it is to fill up a tank, pay for groceries and pay their bills,” Kelly said.

“I think it will be a real issue front and center the whole campaign,” he said. “Connecticut has done very little to mitigate the damage of inflation.”

Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz on Friday linked abortion rights with economic development, issuing an invitation to businesses to leave states with restrictive policies and move to Connecticut where access to abortion has been law for 32 years.

“Now more than ever is the time to look at Connecticut as the future home of your business,” they said in an open letter that opened with the salutation, “Dear business owners.”

On Lamont’s push, Kelly of Stratford said Friday it “would be strengthened if our state would make better policy decisions to increase jobs, income growth and opportunity.”

Republicans’ emphasis on economic issues could resonate more with voters than abortion. Just 11% of those surveyed in a May 26 Quinnipiac University poll say abortion is the most important issue in deciding whom to vote for in the governor’s race, even as two-thirds believe abortion should be legal in all cases.

The economy is the top issue for 35% of voters, and taxes are most important to 15% of registered voters, according to the poll, which surveyed 1,660 registered voters in Connecticut from May 19-23. It reported a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

Looney said Lamont and majority Democrats enacted a “very responsible budget” with more than $600 million in tax cuts.

Democrats will wield another cudgel to put Republicans on the defensive: the conduct of former President Donald Trump. Looney said Democrats will make an issue of the “lawlessness of the national Republican Party, former President Trump and those closest to him” that were the focus of recent testimony to the Jan. 6 committee in Congress.

Connecticut Republicans will be asked, “Are you going to clearly condemn that?” he said.

Rose said Republicans will counter Democratic attacks by campaigning against President Joe Biden, whose national approval rating has hit a new low of 38%.

“Both will use the negative views of the two individuals,” he said.

Trump, who lost Connecticut to Biden in 2020 by 20 percentage points, is likely more unpopular in the state than the president. Sen. Julie Kushner, a Danbury Democrat, immediately blamed the former president for the loss of Roe vs. Wade, reminding her Twitter followers that three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the landmark decision were his nominees.

“Today, Donald Trump’s hand-picked conservative U.S. Supreme Court rolled the clock back by decades on the fundamental right, the fundamental choice that American women have had enshrined in constitutional law for decades,” she said.

Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.