THANK YOU to everyone who came out, called, emailed and helped to make Thursday’s House Finance hearing a BIG SUCCESS!!! We had such an incredible number of people who showed up to make it clear we are done with allowing bans on health coverage for abortion in our state!!
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We heard from the committee that supporters of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (H7442) FAR outnumbered those opposing the bill with about 60+% of folks in attendance supporting the bill and 80+% (YES 80!) of the folks providing in-person testimony wanting to pass this bill.
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We are NOT surprised by this. We know this policy change is supported by a majority of Rhode Islanders – AND that is it is needed to truly protect the right to abortion!
We would like to provide one important update and clarification. During the hearing, opponents of abortion tried to claim (LIE) that the Rhode Island state Constitution bars covering abortion. That is simply NOT TRUE!
From our friends at the ACLU of RI: “Any claim that language in the RI Constitution bars passage of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act is completely bogus. Opponents of the Reproductive Privacy Act made the identical argument about the RPA. Opponents of the Reproductive Privacy Act made the identical argument about & two weeks ago the RI Supreme Court explicitly rejected that argument, expressly stating that ‘in no way’ did the state Constitution prohibit the General Assembly from enacting that law.”
With a Supreme Court decision coming down any day that will drastically alter access to abortion in this country, we have the chance to push for positive change that improves the ability to get care when you need (or want) an abortion!
So what’s next? We need to push for a vote on the bill to get the EACA out of the House Finance Committe and to the floor RIGHT AWAY to get it done this year!
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Email and/or call Rep. Marvin Abney TODAY to say, “Thank you for such a well-run hearing on the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (H7442) on Thursday. Please, get this bill voted on and on to the floor in the House right away. The huge outpouring of support for the hearing shows voters want this bill passed this year. Thank you.”
( rep-abney@rilegislature.gov and/or what he listed as his office phone number: 401- 487-1380)
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Email the committee members (can copy and paste into one email) to say, “I am writing to urge you to vote YES on the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (H7442) and to get this bill out of committee right away. The huge outpouring of support for the hearing shows voters want this bill passed this year. Thank you.”
Emails: rep-slater@
rilegislature.gov; rep- marszalkowski@rilegislature. gov; rep-amore@rilegislature. gov; rep-baginski@ rilegislature.gov; rep-barros@ rilegislature.gov; rep- [email protected]; rep [email protected]; rep- [email protected]; rep [email protected]; rep [email protected] ; rep-ruggiero@rilegislature. gov
We have weeks left in this session and the stakes could NOT be higher. Please, help us build on the INCREDIBLE momentum from last week’s hearing to get this passed in the House, heard in the Senate, passed in the Senate and to Gov. McKee’s desk to sign!
Voters want this. Rhode Islanders need this. LET’S GET THIS DONE! Want to go one step further?
“More than 100 people showed up to testify in House Finance last week and a MAJORITY were in support of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (H7442). Voters want this bill passed this year! Rhode Islanders deserve to know where our lawmakers stand on abortion bans. We demand a floor vote in both chambers this year. Thank you.”