Democrats in Connecticut are working to include anti-discrimination provisions on gender identity and abortion in the state constitution.
Senate Joint Resolution No. 4 would prohibit discrimination “based on pregnancy, including preventing, beginning, continuing, or terminating a pregnancy; sexual orientation; gender identity and expression; and associated health care,” in addition to adding the state’s equal protection provision.
“Opponents fear this plan will open the door to difficulties in areas like women’s sports and abortion,” FOX61 stated. “Supporters argue this legislation merely reinforces Connecticut’s right to privacy.”
The proposal is “an atrocious misuse of women,” according to Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS).
“We forbid adult competition versus kid competition. Competitors under the influence cannot compete against competitors who are clean. Men cannot compete against women, according to Jones.
“You are recognizing a conflict when you say you have to be able to value a person’s gender identity at the same level as sex, and you are going to value a man’s beliefs and sense of self more than the rights of a woman based only on her sex,” she continued.
Additionally, pro-life organizations have cautioned against the idea due to the possibility that it might permit more abortions later in pregnancy.
“Connecticut already has legalized abortion. The only thing this amendment would do is simplify the already simple process of getting a late-term abortion. Up to birth, this is abortion. Is that what Connecticut wants? “No,” the Family Institute of Connecticut’s executive director, Peter Wolfgang, said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, a Democrat, asserts that lawmakers are “not introducing any new rights at all” and that the amendment is only about “the much wider topic of the right to privacy.”
Since 1965, people have depended on it as a basic safeguard in a variety of situations, according to Looney. Although we still believe that Roe v. Wade reflects the will of the people of Connecticut, we already have a statute protecting abortion rights in the state because we put the language of the decision into law back in 1990. However, the attack on private rights we are currently discussing is far more aggressive than any direct connection to Roe v. Wade or the abortion issue in general.
Should the resolution pass the legislature, people will have the opportunity to decide on it when it comes up for vote in November. The law needs a 75 percent majority vote in the state House and Senate in order to pass the legislature.
