The state Senate Judiciary Committee, which has played a pivotal role in past legislation on abortion and guns, will return to the State House spotlight today as it hears testimony on the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act.
On April 27, the House voted 49 to 24 for the legislation, which would provide for abortion coverage in the health insurance plans of Medicaid recipients and state employees.
This afternoon, the Senate Judiciary Committee will take up the Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Senator Bridget Valverde, a North Kingstown Democrat.
The committee is not planning to vote on the bill right away. But observers are already focused on the “whip count” to try to gauge how this new Judiciary Committee chapter will conclude.
Advocates say the nine-member committee contains four solid “yes” votes from Democrats: Senators Dawn Euer of Newport (the committee chairwoman), Ana B. Quezada of Providence (a congressional candidate), and Matthew L. LaMountain and Mark P. McKenney, both from Warwick.
And they say the committee has three solid “no” votes: Senators Frank S. Lombardi, a Cranston Democrat; Leonidas P. Raptakis, a Coventry Democrat; and Anthony P. Deluca II, a Warwick Republican.
So the focus will be on two Democrats who could tip the balance one way or the other: Senators David P. Tikoian of Smithfield and John P. Burke of West Warwick.
On Monday, Tikoian noted that this is his first year in the Senate, saying, “It would be a disservice to the process if I had my mind made up before I walked into the committee hearing. From my perspective, that’s the whole purpose of a committee hearing.”
With the hearing approaching, Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, a North Smithfield Republican, issued a statement, saying, “The bottom line is government should not force Rhode Islanders to subsidize the taking of innocent life.”
And the Womxn Project issued a statement, saying, “Every person in our state should be able to make personal decisions, have access to affordable health services, maintain their bodily autonomy, and live with dignity.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee also found itself at the center of attention in 2019, when the Assembly passed the Reproductive Privacy Act to protect abortion rights in case the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
At one point, the committee unveiled revisions aimed at convincing Tikoian’s predecessor — former Senator Stephen R. Archambault — to back that bill. But Senate Republican leaders showed up at the committee hearing to vote “ex-officio,” presumably against the bill. And that prompted then-chair Erin Lynch Prata (now a state Supreme Court justice) to shift the bill to the Health and Human Services Committee, which sent the bill to the Senate floor, where it passed by a vote of 21 to 17.
Jocelyn Foye, executive director of the Womxn Project, said, “The challenge we are having with the Senate Judiciary Committee now feels a lot like the challenges in 2019 when the Reproductive Privacy Act was being fought for.”
But this time the situation is different, she said, because the proposed changes are both in the standalone bill being heard today and in the state budget bill. Governor Daniel J. McKee’s proposed budget includes $592,000 for Medicaid abortion coverage and $29,500 for state employee abortion coverage.
“We are focused on the standalone bill because the budget bill would only provide one year of security,” Foye said. “But the standalone bill would secure it in perpetuity. It would not depend on who is governor.”
She said she hopes the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on the standalone bill soon “because we acknowledge this is the most Catholic state and the issue of abortion could become part of state budget negotiations.”
