Rhode Island could potentially save $5.4 million a year in taxpayer dollars if it removed the current legal barrier to abortion coverage for state workers and others who depend upon the state for the health insurance plans.
The analysis projects: “a total savings of $5,389,366 from an increase in the number of covered abortions and avoided pregnancies under both Medicaid and the State Employee Insurance Plans.”
The budget office findings will likely be irrelevant to committed opponents of abortion.
‘We are strong’:Abortion rights protesters rally at RI State House in wake of Supreme Court leak
Last year’s hearing on an identical bill brought a deluge of comments, including these from the Rhode Island Catholic Conference, in the most Catholic state in the nation, against the “use [of] taxpayer dollars for the objectionable practice of abortion, which ends the life of an unborn human being.”
“We advocate the R.I. General Assembly instead direct the expenditure of these monies toward producing healthy birth outcomes and providing income security to decrease the perceived need for abortions.”
On Tuesday, however, Gov. Dan McKee joined a chorus of top-level Democrats in saying he supports the “repeal” legislation re-introduced in the House by Rep. Liana Cassar and Sen. Bridget Valverde
“The Governor has been in full support of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act, legislation that is currently pending before the General Assembly. He urges the General Assembly to pass this bill and send it to his desk for signature.”
No date has been set yet for House and Senate hearings on this year’s bill.
In its financial analysis, the state budget office compared the cost of an abortion to the potential — and much higher — cost of a pregnancy, even a trouble-free one.
