2019: Reproductive Privacy Act

Work Began: 2017 | Signed Into Law: June 19, 2019

Securing Abortion Care in RI

TWP began in 2017, when five Rhode Island womxn came together with a shared determination: to preserve access to safe and legal abortion within their state. Our efforts were rewarded two years later, when the Reproductive Privacy Act was signed into law!

The intent of this law is to guarantee that no matter what happens at the federal level, people in Rhode Island will have the legal right to seek an abortion.

This landmark law codified the right to abortion and reproductive privacy into Rhode Island statute—protecting access prior to fetal viability, repealing partial-birth abortion bans, and removing spousal notification requirements, among other barriers.

What does the Reproductive Privacy Act do?

Keeps abortion services legal and safe in Rhode Island, despite the removal of this right at the national level
Protects an individual's right to seek abortion until viability
After viability, the RPA ensures that if someone needs an abortion to protect their life or health, abortion will be available
Removes unconstitutional laws from the state books
It DOES NOT in any way impact the enforcement of the federal law that is known as the “partial-birth abortion ban” (totally inflammatory name that is not scientifically based and is meant to stir up emotions, but we digress)

Learn More About the RPA

While the bill was being advanced and in the floor debate, there were many claims made and misinformation pushed about the bill and about how abortion care is provided.

Abortion is a safe and well-regulated procedure with well established, evidence-based guidelines for care. There is an extremely low rate of complications (less than 1% according to the Centers for Disease Control).

Additionally, there is no factual basis or medical need for the kind of regulations that target abortion clinics for special and unnecessary requirements. Some politicians don’t want abortion to be available, so they make erroneous claims about its safety in order to push for laws that are specifically designed to make care more expensive for individuals and to make it harder for clinics to be able to provide services. Their laws are out of line with the recommendations of major medical organizations and do nothing to improve health outcomes.

Health needs should determine the practice and availability of care, not politics or personal beliefs.Abortion is often necessary for the treatment of miscarriages and other serious pregnancy complications - therefore, abortion IS healthcare!

The Womxn Project practices art + activism ("artivism") to increase attention and support for our civil rights work. In response to the RPA efforts, we worke with the community to create a quilt that captures why individual members of the public supported the push for the RPA. Support was so high that the quilt reached from the top balcony in the Statehouse down to the floor!

The bill was amended several times from the original version in order to provide clarity and balance different interests.

Here are some details about the language included in the final version:

1. A pregnancy may need to be ended after viability in the judgment of a doctor. The bill says that if a doctor does not follow the prohibition on the availability of services only in cases of saving the life or health of the pregnant person, then it will be deemed unprofessional conduct and it connects to a statute around medical conduct. It is NOT a criminal penalty. We know that abortion providers are very compassionate and caring and well trained health professionals who provide the highest standard of care. This provision certainly should not imply otherwise.

2. If a doctor does provide an abortion after viability they must indicate why in the medical record to ensure it was within the parameters of protecting the health or life of the pregnant person. This essentially would already be done in medical records and this information would still only available to the patient and the health professionals they work with per current medical privacy rules.

3. An earlier version provided for the option of grandparents and adult siblings over 25 to give consent to a minor seeking abortion. This was removed.

4. An update was made to the current law around felony assault, which basically provides an option for a sentencing enhancement based on assault or battery on a pregnant person that results in termination of the pregnancy if they know or have reason to know they are pregnant. Abortion providers and health professionals are exempt to ensure that does NOT prohibit an abortion or make it so that a health professional cannot provide care needed to a pregnant person or fetus. Additionally, the pregnant person cannot be charged for actions they take that may result in termination under this provision.

5. It removes laws on the books that were already deemed to be unenforceable and in some cases to contradict the intended purpose of protecting the promise of Roe.

6. It removes the state law around partial birth abortion, which was already found to be unenforceable. This does NOT change that abortion after the point of viability is provided only in cases where a woman’s life or health is at risk. The amended RPA has language making clear that the federal PBA ban would still be enforced. This does NOT permit abortion at any point in pregnancy. It does protect the difficult situations where a woman’s life or health is at risk.

The Womxn Project has had the incredible honor of partnering and connecting with thousands of volunteers in recent months who have given their time and shared their stories and in so many cases went above and beyond to make sure that this important bill would finally make it through after years of hard work.

Today, I am pleased to sign that act into law. The legislation before me is the product of an important and vigorous debate and a great deal of public scrutiny. It codifies what has been the status quo under Roe v Wade for nearly five decades.

It protects a woman’s access to reproductive health care here in Rhode Island at a time when that access is under threat at the federal level and in states across our country. And, it keeps the most personal and difficult decisions of a woman’s life between her and her doctor – where they are today, and where they belong, regardless of continued assaults on the fundamental right to privacy.”

Gina Raimondo, Govenor of RI 2015-2021