Providence Journal | Kathy Gregg | January 6, 2022. |||
Despite the 2019 passage of bills enshrining the principles of the U.S. Supreme Court‘s Roe v. Wade ruling in state law, “the fact remains that the right is still pushed out of reach for many people,” the advocacy group leading the drive said Thursday.
“If you have money, you get a right to abortion. If you don’t and you can’t pay for it out of pocket, then your right isn’t real,” the group known as The Womxn Project said in a statement, ahead of an afternoon news conference on the reintroduction of the “Equality in Abortion Coverage Act.”
Who is most affected, the group asked and answered.
“Women of color are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and more likely to use the state Medicaid program to get their health care. This means the state ban on Medicaid coverage for abortion falls hardest on women of color and takes away our right to make our own health decisions,” the group said.
“Abortion is health care,” said Jocelyn Foye, director of The Womxn Project. “It is not something politicians should be meddling with, but that is what these policies are doing — playing political games with access to abortion. These bans cause real harm.”
Abortion has remained an annual issue for state legislators despite the 1973 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the right to an abortion, and the state’s more recent passage of its own guarantee.
The opponents of efforts to protect, preserve and expand abortion rights in Rhode Island are equally passionate.
Last year’s hearing on an identical bill brought a deluge of comments, including these from the Rhode Island Catholic Conference, in the most Catholic state in the nation, against the “use [of] taxpayer dollars for the objectionable practice of abortion, which ends the life of an unborn human being.”
“We advocate the R.I. General Assembly instead direct the expenditure of these monies toward producing healthy birth outcomes and providing income security to decrease the perceived need for abortions.”
“A ‘moral test’ of our state government is how we choose to support economically poor pregnant women and their unborn children,” the Rev. Bernard Healey wrote in his written testimony. “Enabling tax dollars to fund abortion is an abject failure of such a moral test.”
But a coalition of 19 groups — including the ACLU of Rhode Island, the state’s League of Women Voters chapter, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — argued the other side:
“We believe that reproductive health care is health care, plain and simple. The current restrictions facing recipients of Medicaid and those insured by the State of Rhode Island’s employee health care plan present an issue of health equity — as their coverage does not extend to abortion, a legally protected medical procedure.”
“For those who receive coverage through Medicaid, those most impacted are also those who already face increased barriers to health care, including people of color, immigrants, women, the LGBTQ community, people with low incomes, people with disabilities, and people who live in rural communities. These individuals deserve the same coverage as other Rhode Islanders.”
“We believe that reproductive health care is health care, plain and simple. The current restrictions facing recipients of Medicaid and those insured by the State of Rhode Island’s employee health care plan present an issue of health equity — as their coverage does not extend to abortion, a legally protected medical procedure.”
“For those who receive coverage through Medicaid, those most impacted are also those who already face increased barriers to health care, including people of color, immigrants, women, the LGBTQ community, people with low incomes, people with disabilities, and people who live in rural communities. These individuals deserve the same coverage as other Rhode Islanders.”
On Thursday, Sen. Bridget Valverde, D-East Greenwich, the lead Senate sponsor of the revived legislation said:
“We have requested that Governor McKee prioritize this important policy by including the elimination of these abortion bans in his upcoming budget proposal.”
There was no immediate response from McKee on Thursday.
Added Rep. Liana Cassar, D-Barrington, the lead House sponsor: “Our General Assembly took great steps to protect the right to abortion in 2019 — the work remains to assure that this is a real right, accessible to all, regardless of income and regardless of insurance coverage,” she said.
Original article with paywall: https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/06/rhode-island-abortion-insurance-coverage-law-debate-legislature/9116195002/