Most residents say they support a bill to protect abortion access in Rhode Island law. That’s the finding of a new poll from The Public’s Radio, The Providence Journal, and ABC 6.
Abortion is already legal in Rhode Island. It’s legal across the country in large part because of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling Roe V. Wade . What this poll question asked, is whether that right should be explicitly laid out in Rhode Island law, which it currently is not.
56 percent of people surveyed strongly supported the idea, more than half of the 538 people who participated in the poll. Another 15 percent said they somewhat support the idea. Fewer than a quarter of the people polled said they oppose a state right to abortion.
The question comes at a time when abortion rights proponents are worried that President Donald Trump and conservatives in Congress will chip away at abortion access. With a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court, many who support abortion rights see a distinct possibility that Roe V. Wade could be overturned.
In Rhode Island, progressive lawmakers have tried to push for the right to an abortion to become part of state law, but their bill has never come to a vote. During the last session, it was held up by House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, who is facing a reelection challenge from the right.
Digging into the numbers from the poll, more than half of both Protestants and Catholics support or somewhat support this legislation.
During this election season, Rhode Island has quite a few people – including a large number of women – running for office for the first time, and this is one of the issues that seems to be inspiring them.
“These are rights that a generation of women has taken for granted, in some respect,” said Bridget Valverde, a political newcomer running for state Senate. “But now, you know especially with the recent appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, we do feel that it is a right that could go away.”
Valverde is running in a district that includes parts of East Greenwich, North Kingstown and Narragansett, and was most recently held by a Republican, Mark Gee. Valverde says she remembers asking Gee where he stood on this issue.
“And he couldn’t give us a straight answer,” said Valverde. “And right then and there I realized that this was not the kind of representation that I wanted in the state Senate.”
Valverde is running against Republican Dana Gee, the wife of outgoing state Senator Mark Gee. Dana Gee said she supports abortion rights, but she does not believe that Roe V. Wade is in danger of being overturned right now. She declined to be interviewed further for this story.
While the majority of Rhode Island’s elected lawmakers are Democrats, they aren’t necessarily progressives, says URI political science professor Maureen Moakley, a commentator on The Public’s Radio.
“There’s always been resistance, in this state, because it’s a strong catholic state,” said Moakley. “And you have a lot of relatively liberal Democrats, who happen to be pro-life. So it’s always been a tough struggle. I think the picture has changed drastically, and what was the case last session will be very much different in this session.”
Different, Moakley says, because the church may not have the same sway with voters and lawmakers that it once had. The new Providence Journal/ABC6/The Public’s Radio poll showed that more Rhode Island voters disapprove than approve of the job Providence Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin is doing, and his approval rating is split among Catholics.
Aslo, the issue of abortion rights is on people’s minds right now because of what’s happening at the federal level and on the Supreme Court. Moakley says she thinks there will be a strong push to let this legislation come to a vote next session.
