The Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference achieved “successes we were happy about” during the 2025 Connecticut Legislative Session, according to Deacon David Reynolds, the Conference’s associate director for public policy.
“Legislation dealing with abortion, transgender rights and immigration reflected the conflict between existing state law and the recently revised federal laws and regulations,” he says. “The good news is the Conference’s efforts to stop harmful legislation in the areas of abortion and gender-affirming care were successful, and we are satisfied.”
Here is a summary of some proposals and bills the Conference was involved in during the Connecticut Legislative Session that concluded on June 4. The Conference represents bishops in Connecticut.
House Bill 7213, Elimination of Abortion Regulations: The Conference was involved in stopping the attempt to remove existing regulations that currently prohibit abortion in the third trimester.
If approved, it also would have ended medical providers’ right to refusal to participate in an abortion and removed a state requirement “to provide emergency medical treatment for an infant born alive following a failed attempt at an abortion,” the deacon says.
Senate Bill 7, Religious Freedom for Catholic Hospitals: If approved, this bill could have prevented Catholic hospitals from ensuring their medical staff adhere to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, promulgated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These directives define how a Catholic hospital must conduct itself in areas including abortion, gender-affirming care and assisted suicide.
“The Conference was involved in amending the bill to remove language that threatened religious directives that the Catholic hospitals operate under,” Deacon Reynolds says.
The Conference opposed Senate Joint Resolution 35, Abortion/Gender Identity Constitutional Amendment, that could have led to a constitutional amendment to eliminate the possibility of any limits on abortion and “made transgenderism a protected class under the State Constitution,” the deacon says, “thereby overriding protections that religious institutions currently have regarding gender and sexual ideology.”
House Bill 7212, Social Justice/Trust Act: Connecticut’s Trust Act limits the ways in which local and state law enforcement may interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The Conference supported the bill, which would make modifications to the Trust Act.
House Bill 7012, Education/Antisemitism: The Conference supported a bill to create a group to study the rise of antisemitism in public schools. “The growing antisemitism in our state is a threat to people of all faiths,” Deacon Reynolds says. “And our children must be taught how truly harmful such actions and viewpoints are to a free society.”
House Bill 6894 Social Justice/Housing: The Conference supported this bill to establish an Interagency Council on Homelessness. “This interagency council will try to come up with long-range plans to deal with homelessness and make sure the different state agencies work together,” Deacon Reynolds says.
The Conference opposed House Bill 6804 that would have taxed private schools providing housing for their teachers. This bill would have impacted very few Catholic schools in the state.
Although it was approved, the Conference opposed House Bill 7014 which would have created a process to handle complaints about inappropriate materials available in public school libraries.
“This was an effort to actually minimize parental input on objectionable material,” Deacon Reynolds says. “We will be monitoring this very closely in the future.”
To stay informed of issues the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference is involved in, visit ctcatholic.org or call 860.524.7882.
By Joe Pisani
Catholic Transcript