January 23, 2015
Currey, whose district includes portions of East Hartford, Manchester and South Windsor, was among a group of state legislators and representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women who attended the press conference for the legislation introduced by Blumenthal.
This legislation is critically important for women," Currey said. "I applaud our senators for leading the fight for legislation that would prohibit states from stripping women of their right to make their own health decisions."
Sen. Murphy compared the movement to protect the rights of women to the Civil Rights Movement, recalling that the federal government had to step in and pass a law guaranteeing African Americans their voting rights as many states denied them their constitutional right to suffrage.
The bill is a response to a ban on taxpayer funding for abortions, passed the day before in the House of Representatives on the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
The legislation would require that states regulate abortion providers the same way that they regulate other health clinics and physicians. Access to abortion has recently become severely limited in many states and this bill would prevent states from treating abortion clinics differently than other health services. In the past five years, the states have passed more than 230 measures restricting abortion access for women. More than one-third of the Senate has already signed on as a co-sponsor the bill.