Should RI repeal bans on abortion coverage for state workers, Medicaid users? Hear from both sides

PROVIDENCE - On the subject of abortion, there is no middle ground between the religious and moral convictions of those on one side of this perennial State House debate and the convictions - and pre-Roe horror stories- of Rhode Island women with long and painful memories.

The intractable debate played out once again Monday, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on a trio of abortion-related bills, including "H5006" to repeal the current legal barriers that prevent the state from providing insurance coverage to state employees and Medicaid recipients seeking abortions.

Two other bills seeks harsh punishments for medical professions who fail to provide "reasonable medical care and treatment to an infant born alive."

But most of the public comment centered on the so-called "Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (EACA)" backed by Gov. Dan McKee.

What will the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act do?

McKee included $592,405 in his proposed 2023-24 budget to provide abortion coverage to residents enrolled in Medicaid and another $29,500 to add abortion coverage to the state employee health insurance plan.

The legislation sponsored by House Majority Whip Katherine Kazarian has 44 co-sponsors in the 75-member House.

McKee: 'Rhode Island is a state that protects a woman's right to reproductive healthcare'

No vote is expected Monday, but that leaves the unanswered strategic question: will House leaders, at some later point, seek a stand-alone vote on the bill or wait until the end-of-session rollout and vote on the reworked, legislative version of the proposed new state budget?

In his own letter to the lawmakers, Democrat McKee wrote: "Rhode Island is a state that protects a woman's right to reproductive health care, including abortions.

"This bill ensures that everyone in the state has equitable access to this right. Whether a person is receiving medical assistance through Medicaid or through a state employee health plan, that person should not be barred from accessing all aspects of reproductive health care."

Earlier this year, McKee noted, he joined the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a coalition of twenty governors from across the nation, including the Governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut, "to collaborate and strengthen reproductive freedom and equitable access to reproductive health care."

What are people against the bill saying?

Before Monday's hearing even started, dozens of people sent their written testimony in advance.

"We need to save babies, not kill them. NO! to tax-payer funded abortion. It will make a difference come re-electiontime!" warned David Aucoin, who identifies himself as the president of the Rhode Island Family Institute which, in turn, is part of a national alliance "networked with...other well-known and effective Faith and Family ministries.

Other letters to state lawmakers said much the same: "My name is Daria Spezzano and I am a resident of Lincoln, RI. I strongly oppose any efforts to use my tax dollars to pay for the taking of innocent human life. That is an unjust use of my money for something I absolutely reject on moral grounds."

"My name is Jacqueline Provost ... Let's stop this insanity and agree that it is an innocent human life that is at risk not just cells" she wrote.

"The first job of government is to protect its citizens. This is not protection … it is murder and you want me to pay for it with my tax dollars. No thank you!!!!" she continued.

"Many in this state have a moral conviction that abortion is immoral. Please respect pluralism and do not imposeyour convictions that it is acceptable and furthermore that we all should pay for it on the entire population of this state," wrote Kathryn Colasante.

What are people who support the bill saying?

From the other side came this argument from Candace Santos of North Kingstown: "This bill makes surethat state employees and low-income people can afford care by getting rid of discriminatory bans on healthcoverage for abortion.

"We should eliminate barriers to health services, not make it harder to get," she wrote in an email that also urged the lawmakers to reject the two "copycat bills from other states [that are also on the agenda] that denigrate abortion providers and insert vague language that could meddle with the provision of abortion andother pregnancy related care."

Others send almost identically worded emails, while Joseph Burgio, the director of Rhode Island Atheists wrote:

"It is your duty to ignore faith and outdated moral appeals ... We trust women to make their own decisions about their bodies and about when they become a parent or add to their families. This is not something the government should meddle with."