FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Contact:
Jocelyn Foye, Executive Director, The Womxn Project
[email protected]
w. 401-400-0061
On behalf of the Campaign for Equal Abortion Coverage
Health Providers from Across the State Urge Lawmakers to Pass the EACA
Professionals from across the state are coming together in partnership with the Campaign for Equal Abortion Coverage to urge passage of a bill to halt bans on abortion coverage.
Providence, RI– Statement from the Campaign for Equal Abortion Coverage as they support doctors, nurses and other professionals in their efforts to advocate for their patients and our communities by enacting the EACA this year:
“Policies banning insurance coverage are about taking away access to care. These policies were designed to make care unaffordable, so that the right to abortion is taken away. However, we feel about abortion, we shouldn’t have laws that deny health coverage just because someone is poor or because they happen to get their insurance from a public program.
State employees and people who use Medicaid should have the same access to the care they need as anyone else. This is the message the doctors, nurses and other health professionals from across Rhode Island want to make clear as they head to the State House on Tuesday for a lobby day organized by local health providers in partnership with the Campaign for Equal Abortion Coverage.
In addition to the many folks showing up to speak out, official letters of support are also being shared with General Assembly leadership on behalf of the Rhode Island chapters of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Rhode Island Academy of Family Physicians. This means that the professional societies for ALL primary care physicians for adults in Rhode Island are publicly on record urging passage of the bill.
Abortion is healthcare. Whether you have a public or private health insurance plan, it should cover the services that you need. When it doesn’t, the scramble to pay for an abortion has the potential to push families further in poverty. Already, too many people in our state are struggling to get by and living with the stresses of a lack of support to help care for and raise their families. We should not make it worse by taking away affordable access to abortion care.
All Rhode Islanders deserve the peace of mind that they can obtain the health care they need – and that includes being able to seek an abortion when they need to. We are proud to work with advocates, activists and health professionals to secure passage of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act in 2023.”
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Jocelyn Foye and members of the Campaign for Equal Abortion Coverage are available for interview by request.
“We know due to financial obstacles, systemic barriers like transportation and a lack of paid time off to see a health provider and a lack of access to insurance that a larger number of women of color face unintended pregnancy. That means that the policies we have in place that take away health coverage are falling hardest on people who already struggle with disparities in access to the services we need to manage our health and plan our families. This is about meeting the needs of women and families in our state and making the right that we worked so hard to protect real and accessible.” Jocelyn Foye, Executive Director
The Womxn Project is honored to lead the campaign to get rid of policies that deny health coverage for abortion.
We are proud to work in collaboration with a dynamic group of partners, including:
- Alpert Medical School Medical Students For Choice
- American Academy of Pediatrics, Rhode Island Chapter
- Physicians for a National Health Program – RI Chapter
- Reproductive Health Access Project RI
- Rhode Island Academy of Family Physicians
- Rhode Island American College of Physicians
- Rhode Island Healthcare Access and Affordability Partnership
- Rhode Island Medical Society
- Women and Infants Hospital
The full list of organizations endorsing the Equality Abortion Coverage Act may be found here.