PROVIDENCE – A bill which was supposed to contain only the operational framework for the R.I. Health Insurance Benefits Exchange now contains language which makes it more difficult for a low-income woman to receive health insurance coverage for an abortion due to a wording “mistake.”
The “mistake” in the legislation’s wording was inserted as an amendment to the bill, said Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
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The original goal of the legislation was to create a health insurance marketplace that is “fair, transparent affordable and understandable for the small businesses and individuals in Rhode Island,” moving the state forward with its implementation of health care reform, said Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed.
The bill was supposed to be policy neutral, Perry said, and wording in the amendment concerning abortion was supposed to mirror what already existed in current federal law.
The amendment was proposed by Rhode Island right-to-life advocates and had been reviewed by “trusted professional” legal and policy staff, Perry said.
The mistake was discovered when a copy of the legislation was forwarded by the local office of the American Civil Liberties Union to its national office for review.
“I don’t think there was any kind of deception; that’s my opinion,” Perry said. “It was a true error… a mistake …related to the information that was given to the Senate President and to myself.”
Executive director of Ocean State Action Kate Brock, who testified in favor of the bill at the committee hearing, said: “What’s really troubling is that this bill was supposed to be an apolitical bill, with no policy definitions. It’s extremely disappointing.”
Moving forward, Brock said that she will be working to encourage the R.I. House to pass a “clean” bill that restores the original language which reflects current federal law. “We’ll be working really hard to make sure that they do.”
The bill was introduced by Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, approved on March 30 by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, and passed by the R.I. Senate on April 5.
Abortions are not health coverage. Many of us are opposed to the killing of innocent human babies before and after birth, and we shouldn’t have to pay for someone else to kill their own children.