FIC Action, our allies, and a bipartisan group of legislators, succeeded in gutting HB 7213, forcing the Public Health Committee’s co-chairs to remove the radical sections that were deceptively added to the bill after the public hearing. 

Despite their underhanded tactics, Connecticut’s decades-old regulations that require doctors to save the lives of newborns who survive abortions, require abortion providers to report abortion data to the state, and protect medical workers from being forced to perform abortions, were rescued from repeal on the evening of May 1. 

The vote on HB 7213 can best be broken down into three elements:

1) The regulations moderating Connecticut’s abortion extremism were saved. This was an unmitigated win for pro-lifers and a humiliation for the pro-abortionists who tried to sneak their radicalism past the public. 

2) A parental notification amendment, and an amendment similar to parental notification, both failed. That is a travesty. But we never expected parental notification to pass on the first try. That this vote happened at all was a breakthrough, and one that may haunt legislators who voted the wrong way.

3) HB 7213 passed the House of Representatives. In its now-watered-down version, it is still an affront to parental rights. But it does provide some new protection for minor girls who wish to carry their child to term instead of having an abortion. This strange dichotomy caused pro-life legislators to come down on opposite sides of the final vote. 

Over 100 FIC Action members joined us at the state Capitol yesterday, for a grueling session that went on for almost nine hours. Your presence was noticed. Lobbyists for other causes called the turnout “impressive.” Gov. Ned Lamont happened to be walking by when we all congregated outside the House chambers and greeted the army of blue-shirted pro-lifers. And the impact made by all of you sitting in the gallery for much of the day was felt on the House floor.