“We are so grateful for the leadership of She Leads Justice, the Connecticut Working Families Party, members of the Paid Sick Days Coalition, and Sen. Julie Kushner for their tireless advocacy to expand paid sick leave to workers across Connecticut,” said Liz Gustafson, Connecticut state director of Reproductive Equity Now, an advocacy group.

In Connecticut, almost two-thirds of all abortions are induced through medicine. Liz Gustafson had one six years ago.

“Because I knew then, and I still know now, just how safe and effective medication abortion is, I made a decision that was best for my circumstances,” said Gustafson, who is now the Connecticut director for Reproductive Equity Now.

“While providers at Catholic health institutions may be barred from providing reproductive care and gender-affirming care under the institution’s directives, they can also face employment repercussions simply for giving their patients accurate information about their health and where they can access care,” Liz Gustafson, Connecticut state director of Reproductive Equity Now said in written testimony. “The lack of any information sharing about where else a patient might be able to go to seek care can lead to devastating delays. Patients may not even be aware that a health care facility would deny them both health care services and medically accurate information regarding their health.

As abortion providers and advocates in the Nutmeg State, we are reflecting on these big changes for Hartford GYN today and especially Sunday, March 10 — on Abortion Provider Appreciation Day. This day honors the life of Dr. David Gunn, an incredibly brave physician who provided abortion care across the deep South, and who was murdered by an anti-abortion extremist on this day in 1993. We celebrate this holiday to honor our communities’ providers, but also recognize and recommit to protecting these heroes as threats against abortion providers rise again in the post-Dobbs era.

“Current Connecticut law only requires private insurance providers to cover fertility treatment for people who meet a limited definition of infertility that is defined in reference to heterosexual intercourse,” Gustafson said. “Because of this narrow definition, single individuals and LGBTQ+ families have been excluded from this coverage requirement.”

“The cost of fertility care, such as IVF, can range from $1,000 to tens of thousands of dollars,” said Liz Gustafson, Connecticut state director for Reproductive Equity Now.

Pavalock-D'Amato asked Liz Gustafson, state director for Reproductive Equity Now, details on the Alabama court ruling. "They explained and described and defined an embryo as an extra-uterine child, which is really dangerous in paving the way for personhood laws that is not rooted in science and has been utilized by anti-abortion and anti-assisted reproduction extremists in effort to limit access to the full range of comprehensive reproductive health care," Gustafson said.