The Womxn Project celebrates the Reproductive Privacy Act’s 5th Anniversary

Passage of the Reproductive Privacy Act ensured the right to abortion in Rhode Island.

The Womxn Project (TWP), a non-profit organization focused on building a feminist, community-based movement to further human rights in Rhode Island, displayed its Community Petition Quilt at the Rhode Island State House in celebration of the Reproductive Privacy Act's 5th anniversary on Thursday. The event included a short speaking program, led by TWP Executive Director Jocelyn Foye.

“I'm honored to be amongst all of you at the end of Women's History Month,” said Foye, introducing a short speaking program. “We have such an awesome opportunity to bond the month-long celebration along with the gallery opening in the basement. We're bonding with the voices of women who fought to protect reproductive rights in Rhode Island for the last 27 years and still, to this day. The Womxn Project came on the scene as an organization fighting for the Reproductive Privacy Act and we thought it would be a great opportunity to hear from a few of the folks who fought for that.”

In 2016, founding members of The Womxn Project began organizing in opposition to what they predicted would be a rollback of access to reproductive healthcare under the Trump Administration. They began collecting signatures for a petition to lobby for the protection of the right to an abortion in Rhode Island.

The group initially collected signatures on an oversized canvas scroll and then transitioned to gathering signatures on small fabric squares when the scroll became too cumbersome. Each supporter made quilt squares, which eventually were sewn together into a massive quilt representing the power of individuals doing work collectively to create something bigger than themselves. The quilt and related organizational records of The Womxn Project are available to the public for research at Brown University's John Hay Library.

“Passage of the Reproductive Privacy Act was the work of generations of activists engaged in a decades-long movement that led to securing reproductive rights in Rhode Island,” wrote organizers. The State House event was “a celebration of the work activists have done and a reminder of what is possible as we enter another election year.”

Here’s the video:

The program featured the following speakers:

• Representative Edie Ajello

• Secretary of State Greg Amore

• Former Representative Liana Cassar

• Barbara Colt, The Womxn Project

• Former Representative Linda Kusher

• Senator Bridget Valverde

• Former Representative Anastasia Williams