Former president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 election, recently shared his current stance on abortion.
In Atlanta last week, when asked by reporters, Trump said he would not sign a federal abortion ban. This was a shift in Trump’s earlier stances on abortion rights.
While president in 2016, he supported a 20-week federal abortion ban and has said in recent statements he was open to a 15-week ban.
Trump also said in a video statement on April 8 that if he is elected, “States will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both … Now, it’s up to the states to do the right thing.”
Arizona’s Supreme Court just decided to allow an 1864 ruling to be enforced which would nearly ban abortion throughout the state. Trump said to reporters when asked if Arizona went too far.
“Yeah,” he said. “They did, and that will be straightened out.”
Many states have changed their abortion laws since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The 6-3 decision said the Constitution does not protect a right to abortion, which put the decision back to the states.
Some states have protected the right to abortion and some have stripped most women of their right to choose.
In Connecticut, abortion is legal and has been codified in state law since 1990. To obtain an abortion in the state or to receive any other reproductive healthcare here, you do not have to be a state resident. The right to have an abortion is protected until 24 weeks. After the 24-week mark, the right to have an abortion is decided by whether health is in danger or a life.
The right to abortion has not always been guaranteed in Connecticut. In 1879, legislators’ passed a law that banned the use of any drug, medical device or other instrument in furthering contraception.
In 1965, Estelle Griswold, then executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, a gynecologist at Yale School of Medicine, were arrested after opening a birth control clinic in New Haven.
They appealed their case to the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut and claimed the 1879 law violated the constitutional right to privacy. The court upheld the conviction, so Griswold and Lee appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided 7-2 in Griswold v. Connecticut that the Connecticut law did, in fact, violate the right to privacy. Although the right to privacy is not clearly stated in the constitution, the First, Third, Fourth and Ninth Amendments create the right to privacy in marital relations. The landmark case protected the right of marital privacy against state restrictions on contraception.
Griswold v. Connecticut paved the way for another landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade, when in 1973 the Supreme Court decided the decision to have an abortion was protected by the right of privacy.
Connecticut law continues to provide access to abortion.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, one in eight voters say abortion is most important in how they choose to vote. As a major deciding factor for voters, the two candidates’ stances on abortion and how they plan to support or deny access to abortions will be important to follow these next few months as the race gears up.