Rhode Island Senate Approves Abortion Information Bill 
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 29, 2005
Providence, RI (LifeNews.com) — The Rhode Island state Senate has approved legislation that will allow women to receive information on abortion’s risks and alternatives they may not normally receive from an abortion business. However, the measure will not likely be approved by the House.
The Senate backed the bill on a strong 27-9 vote and it would require that abortion centers give women the information 24 hours in advance of performing an abortion.
West Warwick Sen. Stephen Alves, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, said it would provide "a woman contemplating an abortion with unbiased, scientific, accurate information about an unborn child’s development, the risk of abortion and the alternatives that are available within a 24-hour period to think about that information."
If an abortion practitioner performs an abortion on the woman and denied her the information, the woman, the father of the unborn child and the child’s grandparents would be able to file a civil lawsuit for violating the information law.
The bill now heads to the state House, which has debated it several times over the last few years.
Sen. Charles Levesque of Portsmouth was one of the handful of lawmakers to oppose the bill, according to the Pawtucket Times.
"What we are doing with this legislation is interjecting ourselves into that room with them," he said of the bill and women considering abortions.
Sen. Daniel Issa disagreed and said he is "tired of hearing the bill called a ruse. My comment is what is wrong with waiting one day for something that is probably going to affect you for the rest of your life.
Several amendments to weaken the legislation all failed on lopsided margins.
