Abortion Rights Protected In Rhode Island If Roe V. Wade Falls

RHODE ISLAND — Rhode Island is one of a handful of U.S. states with a law on the books protecting abortion access. Those protections were codified into law in 2019 in the event the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

On Monday evening, POLITICO published a draft Supreme Court decision that lays out a legal case to overturn two key abortion decisions: Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Although only a draft, the document shows that the court is on the path toward rescinding abortion access, which would lead to it being outlawed in many states.

In June 2019, then Gov. Gina Raimondo signed the Reproductive Privacy Act into law. The law protects a woman's right to an abortion in the state, including late-term abortions when necessary to preserve the health or life of the mother.

Following the draft's release, Gov. Dan McKee affirmed that Rhode Island will protect abortion rights.

"Here in Rhode Island, we will always protect a woman’s right to choose," McKee said on Twitter. "We will not go backwards on reproductive rights."

According to the Guttmacher Institute, more than a dozen states could ban abortion instantly if Roe v. Wade was overturned. Every state in New England — except New Hampshire — and New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware have similar state-level protections as Rhode Island, according to a Washington Post analysis.

The draft decision reported by POLITICO is preliminary. The news outlet highlighted that draft decisions are subject to change due to internal Supreme Court deliberations. Abortion rights groups on Tuesday were reinforcing that Roe v. Wade is still law until the Supreme Court acts.