Connecticut State Representative Treneé McGee, D-West Haven, condemned her party’s proposal for a constitutional amendment that would make it easier for young girls to have late-term abortions in the state. The measure, she said, would annihilate more black babies.
McGee was a keynote speaker on Wednesday at the third annual Connecticut March for Life. She has spoken at the national March for Life in Washington, DC, and is known for bucking the radical pro-abortion legislation often proposed by members of her own political party and also backed by some of her state’s Republicans.
“I’m concerned with the abortion industry’s target on women of color and pieces of legislation that, I believe, are detrimental to my community,” McGee told the crowd who rallied at the state Capitol in Hartford. “In the state of Connecticut, you can seek an abortion up to 24 weeks – that is six months.”
McGee pointed to the courage of Fannie Lou Hamer, another black pro-life woman who led a movement of women of color. These women, she said, refused to accept the narrative of Planned Parenthood foundress Margaret Sanger, who urged them to restrict births in their community:
To Fannie Hamer and the black women of the movement, your work to educate our community was not done in vain. Your knowledge and insight into the systemically racist abortion industry has been exposed. Your “no” to Margaret Sanger the day she came to your doors and told you to abort your children will be heard around the world. The younger generation of black, Latina, and indigenous women of color is taking our rightful place to expose the mass genocide of our children.
“You’ve told me that I can’t be black and pro-life because black women need abortion more than anyone,” McGee accused the abortion industry, reminding her listeners as well of the Bible’s story of the Hebrew midwives who rejected Pharao’s order to abort Hebrew babies and became “the reason why Moses was alive.”
“They said ‘no’ to [terminating] your future generations,” she said, urging that “a new breed must encourage and empower women to choose life by encouraging healthy solutions.”
In April 2022, McGee was one of 14 State House Democrats – among them 10 people of color – who voted against a bill to further expand abortion in Connecticut. Though the legislation ultimately passed, McGee rose in the State House to speak out against it, revealing conversations she had had with black girls over the years about abortion.
“They were taught about abortion as a birth control method,” the Democrat said. “They were taught that at any point in time, when they were 13 or 12 or 15, they could go to a Planned Parenthood and receive an abortion without their parents knowing.”
The pro-life activists addressing the crowds condemned Senate Joint Resolution No. 4 (SJ4), a resolution proposing a state constitutional amendment that claims to be an effort to curb “discrimination on the basis of sex under the equal protection clause.”
If passed, however, the amendment would make abortion up until birth a civil right – even for minors – and would bar any restrictions on abortion such as parental notification and consent – aspects of the legislation that critics say will only protect sexual predators and traffickers, not young girls.
SJ4 also includes protections for affirmation of gender ideology in the state by minimizing parental rights when doctors subject children to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and “transgender” surgeries.
Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, urged the crowds to become politically active and fight against legislation making late-term abortion “even easier than it is already.”
Wolfgang applauded the fact that the pro-life community is more diverse than ever.
“Here in Connecticut … you are all united,” he said, adding: “It is a beautiful thing to be pro-woman and pro-child … black, Hispanic, and white, male and female, Democrat and Republican, believers and non-believers, and people from every walk of life.”
“This is the most important cause that underlies every other cause,” Wolfgang said.
Newly-ordained Deacon Mark Desrosiers of the Diocese of Norwich told CatholicVote he is excited to be part of the effort to launch the Connecticut Right to Life Education Alliance.
“Our goal is to get Catholics in our diocese more active politically,” said Desrosiers, who is assigned to the Parish of the Good Shepherd with churches in Hebron and Columbia and serves in the diocesan pro-life ministry under the direction of Rev. Walter Nagel.
The deacon said it’s important for more Catholics to know which bills affecting the right to life are in legislative committees and being voted upon.
“I want to make it easy for our parishioners to participate in the political process because I think we are a silent voice,” he said, and considered the reasons for that silence:
I think sometimes you have to come out of your comfort zone to do it. Sometimes you’re in the minority. It’s just easier to be quiet and comfortable. But, also, sometimes people aren’t sure how to do it. It’s not really that hard, though, and that, certainly, is the spot I want to start with.
Desrosiers says developing simple forms to help Catholics connect with their state lawmakers is one way to alleviate the sense that being politically active is overwhelming. He hopes the new alliance will have representatives from all parishes in the diocese.
“We’re gonna help educate all of us to ways we can be most effective,” he said. “We’re just starting out, so there’s nowhere to go but up. So, I’m excited!”
