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Dear Friend,
On June 27, the Supreme Court once again upheld the
Constitutional right to abortion. In its 5-3 ruling
in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Court struck
down dangerous restrictions on abortion providers in Texas. This
is an amazing victory, one that moves the fight for
reproductive freedom forward.
Let us take a moment to celebrate this historic win – then
get back to work because the fight is not done.
Build the movement for
reproductive freedom by joining Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode Island (PPV!RI), the advocacy and electoral
arm of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.
Rhode Island Facts:
- Only
1/3 of the Rhode Island General Assembly publicly supports the right
to abortion1
- The
Rhode Island Constitution says “Nothing in this
section shall be construed to grant or secure any right relating to
abortion or the funding thereof.”2
- Each
year our opponents introduce dozens of bills to restrict abortion
Across the nation, lawmakers have passed hundreds of laws at
the state level to restrict access to legal, safe abortion. Here
in Rhode Island, we face many of the same challenges.
In its 2016 “Who
Decides?” scorecard, NARAL Pro-Choice America gave Rhode Island an “F”
rating – the same grade received by Texas.
More Rhode Island Facts:
- Rhode
Island law prevents state employee’s health insurance from covering
abortion services (that’s over 14,000 Rhode Islanders)3
- Rhode
Island law bans payment for abortion services for low-income women
covered by Medicaid (that’s over 210,000 Rhode Islanders)4
- Rhode
Island still has laws on the books that have been declared
unconstitutional by the courts, including abortion spousal
notification requirement, a ban on all commercial health insurance
covering abortion, and bans on certain abortion procedures.5
If the Supreme Court were ever to reverse Roe
v. Wade, abortion rights will be decided at the state level.
Right now, that is a scary thought for Rhode Island.
Together, we can secure reproductive freedom for all
Rhode Islanders!
Thank you,
Victoria Ruiz and Craig O’Connor
---The team at Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode
Island
Citations:
1
According to analysis by PPV!RI
3 Rhode
Island General Laws § 36-12-2.1
4 RIGL §
42-12.3-3 and EOHHS 2014 Annual Medicaid Report
5 Rhode
Island General Laws § 23-4.8-2, 27-18-28, and 23-4.12-1
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