State Treasurer Erick Russell: The “Safe Harbor” Fund will address “financial barriers for individuals” in states that restrict access to reproductive or gender-affirming care. Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz: “Everyone should have the freedom to make their own decisions about their own bodie s.” Insurance refused to cover fertility care for Jenna Cutler and her wife, leading the couple to spend $80,000 out-of-pocket to conceive their two children. On Wednesday, Cutler celebrated a new state law that will require private insurers to cover fertility care for LGBTQ+ families like her own. Cutler told her story outside of the New Haven Pride Center alongside Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, State Treasurer Erick Russell, Mayor Justin Elicker, and other state leaders. The event marked the fourth anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Supreme Court decision that overturned the reproductive rights protected by Roe v. Wade. Wednesday’s gathering also marked the second time so far this month that Lamont and other top city and state elected officials have hosted a press conference outside of the LGBTQ+ nonprofit’s headquarters at 50 Orange St. When Cutler and her wife were trying to have a baby, their private insurance only covered fertility treatments for people deemed infertile. “Both of us, separately, were fertile, but together we were infertile,” Cutler told the Independent. “We were lucky” to have the money to pay for fertility care, she said. Before she could continue her story, her daughter’s friend smacked her face against a wall and burst into tears. Cutler instantly went into mom mode, trying to make the six-year-old laugh and pressing a cold water bottle against her face. “Let me see your teeth,” said Cutler. “They’re all still there. What a shame!” The girl smiled. While receiving fertility treatments, said Cutler, her wife would test her hCG levels every day to see if she was pregnant. Once her levels were high enough, their insurance would finally kick in to cover prenatal care. After spending tens of thousands of dollars to conceive, Cutler and her wife are now raising two children just outside of New Haven. The kids are “the light of my life,” said Cutler. “It was obviously very worth” the cost to have them. “But it would have been nice to not have some of that financial burden going in.” Public Act 26-33, signed in May, will help LGBTQ+ families and single individuals receive fertility-care coverage from private insurers. On Wednesday, state and city officials celebrated that bill, as well as the state’s other efforts to protect reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights. “Everyone should have the freedom to make their own decisions about their own bodies,” said Bysiewicz. “So while the federal government is taking away our rights” and “cutting off access to healthcare, what we’ve been doing in Connecticut is exactly the opposite.” Bysiewicz called out the state’s “Shield Law,” which provides legal protection to people who provide or receive reproductive and gender-affirming care. In particular, it prevents patients and providers from being subjected to out-of-state legal action for medical care that is allowed in Connecticut. Connecticut was the first state to pass such legislation in 2022. Officials celebrated the state’s efforts to codify a Biden-era rule that preserves access to emergency abortion care. They also praised Connecticut for stepping up its funding of Planned Parenthood to backfill federal cuts. Russell called out the recent passage of a “safe harbor” fund, which pays collateral costs for people that travel to Connecticut from other states for reproductive and gender-affirming care. The account is funded with private donations. “This is a first-in-the-nation design” that will address “financial barriers for individuals who are living in states” that restrict access to reproductive or gender-affirming care, he said. “I hope it’s clearer and clearer every day” that “the people that are in charge in Washington are hypocrites,” said Elicker. “Because all they talk about is freedom,” but those same people are “taking away a woman’s right to choose. They are taking away people’s right to gender-affirming care.” “They are trying to dictate what high school sports our children play. They are taking away our rights,” he said. “In New Haven, we’re choosing a different path.” The mayor celebrated the city earning a perfect score two years in a row on the municipal LGBTQ+ Equality Index, one of only a handful of cities to do so. He also praised the Pride Center for reopening its doors earlier this month. Lamont touched on the same theme of freedom. “Leave us alone,” Lamont told the federal government. “We’re gonna do everything we can to make sure these kids and all of our kids and all of our folks here in the state continue to have access to all the appropriate healthcare they need.” “Leave our doctors alone, leave our moms alone, leave our kids alone. Just leave us alone. That,” he said, “is what freedom means to me.” Planned Parenthood Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer Gretchen Raffa: “It is clear that Connecticut continues to be a true leader in defending our freedoms: our reproductive freedom and our bodily autonomy.” The post On 4th Anniversary Of Roe Reversal, State Stands Up For Reproductive Rights appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less