Posted June 27, 2018
Thursday, June 28
8:30pm
State Capitol Building Lawn
In the wake of Supreme Court Justice Kennedy resigning July 31st of this year, join The Woman Project and others at the RI State House in a spectacle event asking for an Emergency Session to PASS RHCA!
Help us make our message louder: come help by photographing, live streaming, tweeting, displaying posters, and representing your outrage.
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Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s impending retirement (July 31st) rewrites the game for all Americans. This news is an urgent call for a united defense across all and within each of our united states. The Woman Project is reacting by publicly demanding our General Assembly call to order an immediate emergency session to pass the Reproductive Health Care Act (RHCA) to protect reproductive healthcare, including abortion access.
The Woman Project has been organizing across Rhode Island for the past 18 months to protect Roe v. Wade on behalf of the 63% of Rhode Islanders who support safe and legal abortion access. However, the last session ended with Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello yet again refusing to bring the RHCA to a vote. As a state, Rhode Island receives an “F rating” from NARAL because, among other shameful facts, there is currently no legal protection at the state level that reinforces abortion access. Rhode Islanders access to abortion rights is the based on the national Roe v. Wade ruling. With this looming power shift in the Supreme Court, our access to abortion rights could very well be abolished. The RHCA would secure access to abortion in RI regardless of what happens nationally.
“Speaker Mattiello has refused to allow the RHCA to come to a vote. He was quoted recently saying a vote concerning reproductive rights would “…utilize all the oxygen in the room.” Does the Speaker suggest that all Rhode Island women just hold their breath while our bodily rights are in such palpable jeopardy? Rhode Islanders must work individually and collectively to demand health care be protected. If a lapse in our reproductive healthcare were to occur, the time waiting for government action would be measured in trimesters. For the safety of Rhode Islanders, this cannot be our reality; we must act now to pass the RHCA,” said Emily Boucher of The Woman Project.