Rhode Island Passes Latest in Slew of Pro-Abortion Bills
(Worthy News) – Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo signed into law the most recent in a slew of bills designed to protect or expand abortion rights on June 19th, following bills in Maine, Vermont, Illinois, Nevada, and New York.
The new bill, entitled the Reproductive Privacy Act, will allow for abortions to take place after doctors have determined a fetus to be viable, or capable of surviving outside the womb following birth, as long as the birth presents substantial risks to the mother’s health.
“Women and their families across Rhode Island will be free from the fear that the reproductive health care they need today will be illegal tomorrow,” said Raimondo, who acknowledged that the bill constituted somewhat of an insurance policy in light of the Supreme Court conservative majority that may allow for the overturning of Roe V. Wade.
Despite the passage of the bill, a poll taken by the Susan B. Anthony List found that 73% of Rhode Island voters opposed third-trimester abortions, which the bills in New York, Illinois, and Vermont also effectively legalized by permitting doctors to perform abortions after viability, or around 24 to 28 weeks.
“Rhode Islanders should not be fooled by the smokescreen of ‘compromise’: This law expands abortion on demand through the moment of birth,” said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.
On the other end of the spectrum, seven states—Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio—passed laws this Spring preventing abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, or around 6 weeks, which conservatives feel may provide the final push in overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion a constitutional right under the privacy clause of the 14th Amendment.