NEW: RI Coalition for Reproductive Justice Unveils New Leg. Agenda
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
The Rhode Island Coalition for Reproductive Justice announced their legislative agenda for the coming year from the Statehouse Rotunda mid-Tuesday afternoon.
Statements of support were made by legislators and advocates, including The Honorable Rhoda Perry, former State Senator from the Third District; Marcia Cone, Executive Director of the Women's Fund of Rhode Island; Rev. Amy Frenze, Pastor at Hope Congregational Church UCC; Dr. Christine Brousseau of the Rhode Island American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG); Vanessa Volz, Executive Director of the Sojourner House; and Senator Josh Miller, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services.
The tenets of the agenda are as follows:
Women’s Health
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Align the family planning program with the ACA. Rhode Island covers family planning services in a very limited way for women who deliver babies through Medicaid but only for two years post-partum. Expanding the current program would bring new federal funds into the state with a 9 to 1 match. For every dollar spent on family planning, about $4 is saved within a year on health costs associated with unintended pregnancy, prenatal care, labor and delivery. Approximately 50% of all pregnancies in RI are unintended and of those, 59% are Medicaid births. The program would fund basic reproductive health services including annual well woman exams, Pap tests, breast exams, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and contraceptive methods.
Eliminate gender discrimination from health insurance. It’s time to codify the gender rating elimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act and apply them to all group insurance plans. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ACA, giving Rhode Island lawmakers more momentum – indeed, an obligation -- to repeal gender discrimination from our state statute in order to ensure that Rhode Island will never go back to a time when women are charged more than men solely because of their gender.
Protect sensitive medical information. Crisis pregnancy centers are not required to follow federal HIPPAA confidentiality protections and are not regulated by the RI Department of Health. Little is known about their business practices or services. We believe that women, families and lawmakers should know more, rather than less, about businesses that hold themselves out as medical providers and hold such centers accountable to stringent patient privacy protections.
Protect pregnant women in the workplace. Rhode Island should pass common sense protections that allow pregnant women continue to do their jobs and support their families by requiring employers to make accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions that they regularly make for workers who are temporarily injured or disabled.
Domestic Violence Prevention
Fund domestic violence prevention programs. Domestic violence is a serious, preventable public health problem that affects thousands of Rhode Islanders and their children each year. There is a growing body of evidence-informed prevention programs that can help stop abuse in our communities before it starts, but Rhode Island currently does not fund domestic violence prevention at all. We support the creation of a Domestic Violence Prevention Fund to invest in these programs.
Codification of Abortion Protections
Codify Roe v. Wade. Sixteen states have protections for abortion access that mirror or are stronger than the protections established under Roe v. Wade. Rhode Island should ensure women will never face criminal sanctions for making personal decisions about a pregnancy, and join Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts to ensure that fundamental abortion rights will never be subject to rollbacks in federal courts.
Repeal spousal notice. Three decades ago, Rhode Island passed a law requiring a physician to notify a woman’s spouse in order to terminate a pregnancy. The law is not enforceable thanks to a 1984 court decision ruling the statute unconstitutional. However, the law remains on the books. It should be repealed in order to leave no doubt about the inappropriateness of such a requirement, which would force notification even in cases of rape and incest.
Protect abortion facilities. Rhode Island should codify the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) act passed by Congress in 1994. The law prevents the use of physical force, threats of physical force or intimidation against patients seeking reproductive health services, health care providers or individuals exercising free speech near abortion facilities.
Protect those most vulnerable in RiteStart. Rhode Island’s RIteStart program for low-income families supplements the federal Medicaid program but, unlike the federal Hyde Amendment, does not provide funding to allow women to terminate a pregnancy as a result of rape and incest. Current law only permits a woman in RIteStart to obtain an abortion in the narrow case of endangerment of her life. The exception should, at a minimum, apply to rape and incest survivors similar to Medicaid.
Fund abortion coverage for ALL women. Rhode Island has one of the most restrictive state laws in the region preventing state funding for abortions for low income women. The federal Hyde Amendment prohibits federal tax dollars from being spent on abortion with the exception of cases of rape, incest or endangerment of life of the mother. Women covered under Medicaid should be able to access abortions using state dollars similarly to 17 other states, including our neighbors in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.
Repeal Restrictions on abortion coverage for state employees. Laws barring the state and municipalities from providing their employees health insurance plans that include coverage for abortion remain on the books even though they are largely unconstitutional. These discriminatory laws should be repealed.
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