The political advocacy arm of the reproductive healthcare nonprofit Planned Parenthood has publicly backed incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon — marking just the latest in a busy season of endorsements in the run-up to a three-way August primary. Dillon announced that endorsement from Planned Pare nthood Votes! Connecticut in an email press release Wednesday. The endorsement comes roughly three weeks before she is set to face challengers Eli Sabin and Justin Farmer in the Aug. 11 Democratic primary for the 92nd General Assembly District seat. That district covers parts of Amity, Westville, Edgewood, Dwight, and the Hill. Dillon — a 21-term incumbent, deputy majority leader, and House chair of the Health Subcommittee of the state legislature’s Appropriations Committee — has already been endorsed by the local Democratic Party, the CT AFL-CIO, and the Sierra Club. Sabin, a former downtown alder, has been endorsed by Mayor Justin Elicker. Farmer, a former Hamden Legislative Council member, has been endorsed by the Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America. Dillon included in Wednesday’s email a July 21 letter signed by the Planned Parenthood Votes! Connecticut Board of Directors, announcing its support for Dillon as well as for State Rep. Maryam Khan in her bid for the 2nd Senate District seat and State Rep. Jack Fazzino in his bid for the 13th Senate District Seat. All three endorsed candidates are Democrats. (Planned Parenthood Votes! is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that serves as the political advocacy arm of the nonprofit healthcare provider Planned Parenthood.) “The U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion four years ago — handing our power to control our own bodies to state politicians,” the endorsement letter states. “We are over a year into the Trump-Vance administration’s assault on reproductive health and rights and so many more threats to our fundamental freedoms, leading to a world where people at home and abroad have less access to health care, more barriers to abortion care, and a broken public health system.” The letter continues: “Now more than ever, we need state legislators who deeply understand what’s at stake for sexual and reproductive health care access in Connecticut and who are uncompromising leaders willing to fight for patients and providers.” The letter cites working with state lawmakers “to expand access to abortion wherever possible and achieve historic legislative wins,” including the passage in 2022 of the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act (PA 22-19), “improving protections for health care providers in 2023 and 2024, making crucial state investments in reproductive health care providers, expanding access to reproductive health and gender-affirming health care and more.” “I am honored to receive the endorsement of Planned Parenthood Votes! Connecticut,” Dillon is quoted as saying in Wednesday’s press release. “At a time when reproductive freedom and access to health care are under increasing attack across the country, Connecticut must continue to lead in protecting the health, and dignity of every person. I am proud to stand with Planned Parenthood and the many advocates who work every day to ensure that reproductive health care remains accessible, safe, and protected in our state.” She added that she was a “a proud supporter of PA 22-19, a vital piece of legislation which ensured women continued to have access to reproductive health and provided additional protections for providers. I remain committed to defending these reproductive freedoms, protecting access to health care.” The post Planned Parenthood Endorses Dillon appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less