March for Life draws 1,800 to CT Capitol: Activists speak out against abortion access

Anti-abortion activists demonstrated on the grounds of the state Capitol Wednesday for the third annual Connecticut March for Life.

An estimated 1,800 people attended the rally and march, carrying icons of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, and raising signs that read “Choose life,” “All lives matter,” “Make more babies,” and “Life is precious, murder is evil.”

“We want a Connecticut where every unborn child is protected in law and welcomed in life. That is our ultimate goal,” Peter Wolfgang, the executive director of the Family of Institute of Connecticut, said before a cheering crowd.

The rally’s line-up of impassioned speakers advocated for a culture and legal landscape in Connecticut that protects the life of “the unborn.” Many spoke out against existing statutes and proposed legislation designed to protect and expand abortion access.

Rep. Treneé McGee, a self-described “Pro-life” Democrat, told the crowd that she holds “strong concern with the abortion industry’s target on women of color and pieces of legislation that I believe are detrimental to my community.”

“They have placed these (abortion) clinics in our communities, giving us no resources,” McGee said “We must encourage and empower women to choose life by encouraging healthy, holistic solutions that surround them.”

McGee told the crowd that they must care for one another and their communities “from the womb to the tomb.”

“Women will be empowered to choose life because we value theirs. The protection of life must be met with the sustaining of life and checking our prejudices in our communities must matter,” McGee said.

Activists Wednesday celebrated pregnancy centers as central to that work.

Anna Montalvo, the executive director of ABC Women’s Center in Middletown and New Britain, said that pregnancy centers offer free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, prenatal vitamins, medical care, family counseling, supplies and more to support women through pregnancy, birth and beyond.

“We represent the compassion, hope, and healing our communities need,” Montalvo said in her rally speech. “We represent the real choice. …Our women do not need abortion. What they need is help. What they need is support. What they need is for someone to tell them that ‘You can have this baby and we’re going to be there with you, support you to have this child.’”

In the crowd, Keilani Hughes watched with her 14-year-old daughter.

Before the rally, Hughes explained that her first sonogram completely transformed her understanding of pregnancy.

“I didn’t know that the babies at 12 weeks look like that full baby. It just melted my heart. Melted my heart, absolutely, to know that ‘Wow, this is life,’” Hughes said. “It’s really like five fingers, five toes, heartbeat, so early on. So it’s not a clump of material, a clump of tissue. It’s not.”

Hughes said she now works to “make sure our girls are equipped with that information.” Hughes and her daughter are part of an American Heritage Girls troop that operates out of First Church of Christ In Wethersfield. She explained that the troop partners with local organizations to fund diaper drives and knit baby bonnets for mothers and babies in need.

“It’s such an important message for us that we’re here to support,” Hughes said.

Other young students attended the march with signs and banners.

“If we weren’t born 14 years ago, we would basically be no one,” Natalia Flores, a freshman from Mercy High School in Middletown, said as she stood with her classmates. “I really hope to give that same opportunity to the unborn.”

Mary Duplin, of Newington, marched alongside her 28-year-old son, Patrick.

Duplin said she was still pregnant when she learned that Patrick would be born with Down syndrome.

“They wouldn’t stop asking if we wanted to abort,” Duplin said, explaining her interactions with medical professionals after the diagnosis. “I made it quite clear that that was not going to be an option for us. But there was still that pressure.”

“We fought the battles and we continue to fight this,” Duplin’s husband, Mark, added. “It’s really important for us to be here.”

The Duplins said they hoped the action Wednesday would send a message to state lawmakers.

During his speech, Christopher Healy, the executive director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference told attendees to speak up and advocate for a “State where life is respected from natural conception to natural death.”

“We have an election this fall. We have legislation before us. …We need your voices, your hard work, talking to people that are working in that building over there every day about why life is so important to us,” Healy said, pointing to the Capitol and Legislative Office Building

“The stakes are too high to sit around and do nothing,” Healy added. “We are a very powerful group of people when we speak collectively, but most importantly when we speak individually.”

Wolfgang, and other speakers explicitly denounced two pieces of proposed legislation that are making their way through committee.

The proposals include Senate Joint Resolution 4, a bill that seeks to enshrine a right to abortion into the Connecticut State Constitution, and House Bill 5424, a bill that would prohibit religiously affiliated hospitals from taking adverse action against employees that provide medically accurate information, treat a pregnancy-related emergency, or recommend a referral for services that may conflict with the hospital’s ethical and religious directives.

“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,” Wolfgang said.

“(H.B, 5424) is a bill deliberately targeting Catholic hospitals, enforcing them — against their religious beliefs, against their conscience — to allow abortion referrals from Catholic healthcare institutions,” Wolfgang added.

Wolfgang said the activists plan to do “everything we can to stop” the legislation from passing.

Rep. Gillian Gilchrest, a member of the Public Health Committee, said H.b. 5424 would clear up confusion for healthcare professionals.

“We’ve heard from health care providers who work in those settings that they don’t know what is permissible or not to say with regards to reproductive healthcare,” Gilchrest said. “We just want to ensure that those providers, under their scope of practice, can provide medically accurate information and referral.”

Gilchrest said that residents who support a right to abortion “should be concerned” about the anti-abortion movement.

“Connecticut has strong abortion access laws because of who we elect. And so people should be concerned because you need to keep electing folks who support your access to reproductive healthcare in November,” Gilchrest said.

Despite the large number of anti-abortion protestors Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said she believes “their point of view is a minority view in the state.”

According to a 2022 poll of Connecticut residents by Emerson College, just 9% of respondents said Abortion should be illegal in all cases. Roughly 34% said abortion should be legal in all cases and another 20% supported abortion up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Currently, Connecticut protects the right to an abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy and permits abortion at any stage if the life or health of the mother is at risk.

Bysiewicz said she hopes the proposed amendment to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution will go on the ballot for the public to weigh in.

“We are seeing consistent attacks (on reproductive rights) from extremely conservative points of view and that’s why our leaders in the legislature have a very strong agenda to continue to try to protect and expand women’s reproductive rights because we know they’re under attack,” Bysiewicz said. “Here in Connecticut, the governor and I, and our legislative partners, have made sure to protect our Roe v. Wade statute and to further protect and expand women’s access to reproductive healthcare in our state.”