'Crisis Moment For Abortion Access': RI Reacts To Roe V. Wade Decision

RHODE ISLAND — The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, and it didn't take long for prominent figures in the state to respond.

"Today's Supreme Court ruling is a devastating step backward for women and underscores how high the stakes are for this election," said State Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who is also running for Congress.

Many, including Gov. Dan McKee and Attorney General Peter Nerona, have doubled down on the states commitment to abortion access for residents.

"Here in Rhode Island, we will always support a woman's right to choose. Despite today's ruling, Rhode Islanders still have the right to access abortion health care services in our state thanks to the General Assembly codifying these protections into law," McKee said.

"For nearly half a century following the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, a woman's right to choose whether to end her pregnancy has been an established, fundamental right," Nerona said. "Indeed, that fundamental right has been so firmly established over the lives of multiple generations of Americans that until recently, the notion of the Supreme Court going backwards in time and eliminating it has been unthinkable. And yet that is precisely what the Supreme Court has done today, in a decision that endangers women's health and turns the Court's own long-standing principles recognizing the critical importance of adhering to legal precedent on their head."

Civil rights and advocacy groups have also joined the chorus of dissenting voices. In-person action has also been planned in Providence on Friday.

Press Conference

Advocacy groups, doctors and a number of Rhode Island residents gathered on Exchange Street outside the federal courthouse on Friday afternoon following the decision.

The overarching message was similar for all who spoke: this is a monumental moment of change for the country, and a frightening time for reproductive rights.

Nicole Jellinek, the Rhode Island Coalition for Reproductive Freedom Chair, called it a "crisis moment for abortion access."

Beth Cronin, of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the decision was a "direct attack on patient physician relationship and on medicine," and sets a "dangerous precedent for practicing medicine."

Aniece Germain is a city councilor in Cranston, and also serves as the Executive Director for Hope and Change for Haiti, a reproductive justice group. She is scared by a potential future which sees reproductive rights in America look like those she's seen in Haiti.

"I am saddened by today's ruling that takes away a woman's fundamental right. The Supreme Court failed women today," Germain said.

Protest Scheduled

A rally outside of the State House is also planned at 8 p.m.

"Hostile states will likely try to ban abortion, but here in Rhode Island because of the work that we did together over decades and the passage of the Reproductive Privacy Act in 2019, abortion is legal and we still have the right," said The Womxn Project, in a statement.

"Yes, that should be a comfort to anyone who needs care or will need or want to end a pregnancy in the coming days, but it is also a call to action. We need to speak up loudly and defiantly to make it clear that abortion IS a right and should be accessible for everyone everywhere."

Rhode Island is one of 14 states, plus the District of Columbia, with laws in place protecting the right to an abortion, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Even with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision reversed, Rhode Island residents can still receive abortion care.

The court's decision, authored by Justice Samuel Alito was released Friday, more than a month after a draft of the opinion leaked. It will have an immediate impact on abortion rights in 13 states, largely in the south and west, that have laws in place to ban abortion as soon as Roe is overturned. Last month, the Rhode Island Supreme Court upheld a 2019 law protecting abortion rights in the state.

Read more: Roe V. Wade Overturned: What Happens Now In RI?

Others to respond include State Treasurer Seth Magaziner, Gubernatorial Candidate Matt Brown and State Senator and Lt. Governor Candidate Cynthia Mendes, and the Rhode Island for Working Families Party.