A leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court, first published by Politico, indicates the court plans to overturn the landmark 1973 abortion law.
Supporters of abortion rights in Rhode Island, like their counterparts elsewhere, have reacted with outrage. They say a majority of Americans support abortion rights and they say a ban on abortion will mostly affect poor women in red states.
Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts are among the states with their own laws to protect abortion rights.
Some elected officials, like former House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, downplayed the threat to Roe. During a May 2018 interview, Mattiello cited the polarizing nature of abortion when asked whether an abortion rights bill would come to the House floor.
“For everybody that wants that, there’s almost somebody that doesn’t want it, so it’s just divisive, for no real end, no real benefit either way,” Mattiello said. “Roe v Wade is not going to be overturned. I think that’s a concern that’s not founded in reality.”
But abortion rights supporters were alarmed. They made a big grassroots push heading into the next General Assembly session, and drove abortion rights onto the agenda even though some key legislative leaders in heavily Catholic Rhode Island were personally opposed to abortion.
Opponents called the abortion rights measure extreme. But during a May 2019 Senate Judiciary hearing, Sen. Dawn Euer (D-Newport) said the legislation did nothing more than protect the status quo. And she said it was clear where the Supreme Court was headed.
“After decades of attacks, the anti-choice forces finally have what they want by holding a majority of seats on the U.S. Supreme Court,” Euer said. “Just yesterday in Franchise Tax Board of California versus Hyatt, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 40-year-old precedent, indicating the pathway to overturning Roe.”
The abortion rights bill stalled in the Judiciary Committee, although it moved ahead a month later when the Democrats who rule the legislature switched the bill to another committee.
The next test was the narrowly divided state Senate.
Even though the top two Democrats in the chamber voted in opposition, the bill narrowly won approval. Here’s Senate President Dominick Ruggiero with the count: “There are 21 votes in the affirmative, 17 in the negative and the act passes.”
The abortion rights bill won broad support in the Rhode Island House, and then-Gov. Gina Raimondo signed it into law.
Back in 2018, then-Lt. Gov. Dan McKee was among those who questioned the need for a state-based abortion law and he said he did not think Roe v Wade would be overturned. Now, however, McKee is among the Rhode Island Democrats who say the state will protect a woman’s right to an abortion.
All four of McKee’s Democratic rivals for governor released comments criticizing the move by the Supreme Court.
Here’s some other reaction:
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed: “It is clear the Republican Court has the votes to fully overturn Roe v. Wade. Such a ruling would be a radical, short-sighted, partisan move from a partisan court. Like the majority of Rhode Islanders, I support a woman’s right to make her own private reproductive choices. There will be floor votes in response, but the simple fact is the only votes that matter on this issue will be cast by the American people in November.”
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: “If the majority Republican justices stay the course, this decision will go down as one of the most supremely political acts in Supreme Court history. Roe v. Wade has stood firm in the law for decades, guaranteeing women the freedom to decide if and when to have a child – one of the most profoundly personal and life-altering decisions a person can make. This decision would wipe that well-established precedent away, to give right-wing ideologues a political victory. The right-wing goal has been to control the Court, to achieve policy gains against the will of the American public, and this decision is exactly the kind of deliverable they had in mind when they packed the Court with Federalist-Society-chosen justices. I hope the Republican justices seriously reconsider a decision to upend nearly 50 years of precedent and harm millions. It would be a blow from which the Court may not recover, and which would fall squarely on women of this country.”
This story has been updated.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org. Follow him on Twitter @IanDon. Sign up here for his free weekly RI politics newsletter.
