Westerly Sun, By Jocelyn Foye, May 13, 2022 ||
For years, activists have worried that Roe v. Wade could be overturned, and they’ve often been told by lawmakers that it will never happen. The leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion last week proved that our fears were real.
Voters rose up and volunteers showed up in 2019 to push for the passage of the Reproductive Privacy Act. This was an incredible victory to affirm that in our state we will protect the right to abortion no matter how dire things may get at the federal level. The problem is that the right is not real for many people.
Too many of our neighbors, especially Black and Latinx people, young people, and low-income folks, struggle with access to abortion care. Right now, there are policies on the books in Rhode Island that take away health coverage for abortion for people who use Medicaid and state employees. This is wrong. It pushes care out of reach for people based on how much money they make or the type of insurance they use to get care.
We can do better. We can pass the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (H7442/S2549) and eliminate these harmful bans. This bill has broad support and is an important step forward to close the gaps in access. I hope you will join me in urging House Speaker Shekarchi and Senate President Ruggerio to get this bill heard and to the floor. The time could not be more important to take action.
