Providence Journal, November 30, 2021 | Jocelyn Foye & Erin Matteson Op-Ed ||| The days after an election always come with a fair share of armchair quarterbacking about what happened and what is next. The wave of incumbent and freshman lawmakers are poised to make policies that have a huge impact on our lives. And that includes the lawmakers here in our state who claim to champion progressive values but refuse to take action to close gaps in access to abortion.
The state Senate earlier this year held hearings for a bill that would provide abortion coverage for low-income Rhode Islanders on Medicaid and also prevent abortion from being excluded from state employee insurance plans. This could have helped thousands of Rhode Islanders access care when they need it.
Unfortunately, a number of legislators who claim to care about health care neglected to take action to get the bill out of committee and it failed to pass. Keep in mind that 56% of Rhode Islanders strongly support abortion access and the bill had a strong set of co-sponsors in both chambers.
At a time when abortion rights are under attack, we need our elected officials to do more than hold a press conference or talk about their support. We need meaningful action. We cannot afford to let the idea of compromise or some warped concept of political middle ground take away the ability to make our own health decisions and plan our families. When politicians deny people health benefits for abortion that is exactly what is happening — people’s decisions are taken away.
We are on the brink of a Supreme Court case that threatens to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the constitutional right to abortion. Yes, Rhode Island now has a state law protecting the right to abortion after a huge public campaign, but we need to finish the job by getting rid of financial barriers that push care out of reach for many. These barriers disproportionately impact those who already struggle to access health care, including Black, trans and low-income people.
Supporting abortion restrictions isn’t just anti-health care and anti-woman, it’s also anti-trans and pro-racism. Sound dramatic?
Tell that to the folks who are told that because they use a public insurance program they don’t get to control their bodies and futures.
Rhode Island lawmakers should support access to abortion for everyone because it’s the right thing to do, and it is also what Rhode Islanders want. In 2019, 71% of people supported the Reproductive Privacy Act (RPA), the bill to ensure the right to abortion. Of those registered voters who supported the RPA, 61% of them were self-described Catholics. In fact, 42% of those self-described Catholics were ‘strongly’ in support of the legislative action to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade.
Some lawmakers claim to oppose protecting abortion because of their Catholic faith, but that’s out of step with the views of significant numbers of Rhode Island Catholics and flies in the face of what religious liberty really means — the ability to each follow our own beliefs instead of having politicians impose their beliefs on something as important as decisions about pregnancy and parenting.
Any Rhode Island public official claiming to care about health care or racial justice must prove they recognize that abortion is a crucial part of the comprehensive health care that people need and want. Anti-abortion policies are harming Rhode Islanders and we are sick of waiting around for state leaders to do something about it.
We need our elected officials to not only express their support for our right to bodily autonomy — including access to abortion — but also to support legislation that ensures everyone in Rhode Island can get the health care they need.
Erin Matson is co-founder and executive director of Reproaction. Jocelyn Foye is board president and director at The Womxn Project.
