Boston Globe, May 3, 2022, by || “Policy will not stop abortions. It will just stop safe and legal abortions,” state Senator Tiara Mack said, while Father Jay Finelli of the Diocese of Providence called the possibility “a great miracle.”
PROVIDENCE — Advocates, religious and political leaders, and health care workers reacted with a mix of horror and elation after a leaked draft opinion suggested that the Supreme Court could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which protects women’s rights to abortion access.
If the leaked opinion, first published by Politico, is the court’s final ruling, each state will have to determine a woman’s access to abortion. The move would effectively ban abortion in at many Republican-controlled states.
“While it’s devastating, it’s not at all surprising,” said Senator Tiara Mack, a Providence Democrat, who said she was inspired to run for elected office because of abortion rights. “And even before a post-Roe world, we have Rhode Islanders who still don’t have access to abortion.”
Jocelyn Foye, director of The Womxn Project, told the Globe that the push to pass the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act this year is “now more important than ever.” The EACA would allow abortion to be covered by Medicaid in Rhode Island. “It’s not just about abortion,” said Foye. “We’re literally talking about an economic justice issue. It’s about race equity. It’s about everyone being given the same right.”
