Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP)

Connecticut imposes a variety of requirements on abortion providers that are not imposed on other health care providers, including:

Restrictions on Where Abortions May Be Performed

Connecticut places medically unnecessary restrictions on where abortions may be performed.

The state, without reference to medical necessity, requires outpatient clinics that are operated by corporations or municipalities and that provide abortions (at any stage of pregnancy) to have a standard operating room.  Conn. Agencies Regs. §19-13-D54(d)(9).

Clinics must hire counselors who have or who are supervised by a person with a graduate degree or training in social work, psychology, counseling, nursing, or ministry.  Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 19a-116 (Enacted 1979; Last Amended 1995); Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19a-116-1(d).

Among the most common TRAP regulations are those restricting the performance of abortions to hospitals or other specialized facilities, which require doctors to obtain medically unnecessary additional licenses, needlessly convert their practices to mini-hospitals at great expense, or perform abortions only in hospitals, an impossibility in many parts of the country.

Connecticut requires that all abortions after the second trimester be performed in a hospital.  Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19-13-D54(c).

Restrictions on Who May Perform Abortions

Connecticut prohibits certain qualified health care professionals from performing abortions.

A regulation provides that only a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery in the state may perform an abortion.  Conn. Agencies Regs. § 19-13-D54(a) (Enacted 1974; Last Amended 2005).  The Connecticut Attorney General has issued an opinion concluding that this regulation applies only to surgical abortions and that advanced practice registered nurses, licensed nurse-midwives, and physician's assistants who are licensed in Connecticut may, in accordance with the statutory requirements and conditions governing their practices, dispense mifepristone in a licensed clinic as long as they are acting under the supervision of a physician who is a "qualified physician," as defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Conn. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 2001-003 (Feb. 7, 2001). The Connecticut Attorney General has also issued an opinion stating that, under Connecticut law, such clinicians may prescribe mifepristone.  Conn. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 2001-015 (July 2, 2001).