The Connecticut Catholic Conference held a press conference today in the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Its executive summary was titled a special report on "The State of Abortion in Connecticut 2000-2007". The report finds that the abortion rate in CT is increasing. The group's legislative recommendations include: increasing the age a minor must recieve counseling from 15 to 17, enacting an adult notification law for the state of CT, and modifying an existing law that health care workers must immediately notify the DCF when girls 12 years and younger are seeking an abortion.
The group tried forging a connection between notification laws and fewer sexual predators. Its logic was based off the idea that if a teen must notify her parents before an abortion, sexual predators are less likely to attack because they think they have a greater chance of getting caught. Of course, this logic is flawed: notification laws infringe on a teenager's right to have an abortion, regardless of what her parents think. Creating obstacles to abortion put our daughters (and other young people) in danger of not getting the medical care they have a right to.
NARAL supports comprehensive sex education as a way to decrease the number of potential unwanted pregnancies. The Catholic Conference questioned the effectiveness of sex education. It neither supported nor opposed the Act Concerning Healthy Teens, a comprehensive sex education bill that was introduced last year.
The press conference came a day before the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Tomorrow (1/22), the Connecticut Coalition for Choice will hold its own press conference in the legislative office building to commemerate the occassion and look ahead to future work in reproductive justice.
Watch for NARAL Pro-Choice CT on the Fox 5 10 o'clock news tonight, January 21.
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