RI SENATE PASSES ABORTION BILL

PROVIDENCE -- Legislation that would make an abortion illegal unless
the pregnant woman receives information at least 24 hours beforehand
about the risks and possible alternatives passed the Senate 27-9 on Tuesday.

West Warwick Sen. Stephen Alves, the bill's sponsor, said the Women's
Right to Know Act, "simply provides 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."

Waiting 24 hours, Alves told his colleagues, "helps to ensure that
the decision was well-considered."

Performing an abortion in violation of provisions of the act would be
a felony, and the patient, the child's father and grandparents would
all be authorized to bring civil actions for actual and punitive
damages against the doctor.

A slew of amendments that, among other things, would provide an
expanded definition of abortion, make an exception to the 24 hour
wait in cases of rape and incest, and protect the privacy of patients
and doctors in required reports and records all failed by lopsided margins.

"When a person comes into that room and seeks a consultation with a
physician," Sen. Charles Levesque of Portsmouth said, "they have a
very strong knowledge of what they need and what they want. What we
are doing with this legislation is interjecting ourselves into that
room with them. We are interjecting our values into that room. We are
saying we have a right to be in that room with them to discuss this issue."

"None of you belong in that room unless you are asked to be in that
room," Levesque scolded. "We are intruding on somebody's decision. I
suggest to you we have no right to be in that room when this decision
is being made."

"What no one yet has said this afternoon is that the reason we have
12 to 15 amendments on this bill is that the opponents of Senator
Alves' piece of legislation are scared to death that Rhode Island
will be the first state to overturn Roe vs. Wade" the landmark U.S.
Supreme Court decision making abortion legal, Sen. Leo Blais of
Coventry asserted.

Noting that the Senate passed medical marijuana legislation "because
we wanted to send a message to the federal government. Well this bill
today is also sending a message to the people of Rhode Island that
the Rhode Island Senate believes that life is the most important
commodity we have and that we need to value that life and protect
that life from the moment of conception."

The issue of abortion, Blais said, "goes beyond religion, goes beyond
party lines, but goes to the moral character of folks who believe
what they bring up here is a piece of themselves as well as the
issues of the voters of their district."

"This measure is a ruse," declared Providence Sen. Rhoda Perry, "it
is not benign. It is not about protecting a woman's right to know. It
is about falsifying and presenting as scientific facts statements
that are anecdotal in nature."

In particular, Perry said offering one amendment, "there should be no
question that victims of rape and incest should not be subject to the
burden of informed consent."

Alves responded that is "not too onerous to look at a picture of a
fetus" before "terminating a human life."

Sen. Daniel Issa of Central Falls, Cumberland and Pawtucket, 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."

Issa also disputed Perry's contention that there are no long-term
psychological effects in women who have abortions. "I find that
argument bogus," Issa said.

The bill now goes to the House, where it has been defeated several
times in previous years.

In other business, the Senate finally fine-tuned both its own and the
House's version of the medical marijuana bill and sent both to Gov.
Donald Carcieri. Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said the governor is
likely to veto them.

The bills, which would allow persons with certain degenerative and
painful diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or AIDS could get
a recommendation from their doctor to give to the RI Department of
Health, which would issue a registry identification card to the
patient and two caregivers that would protect them from arrest,
prosecution or asset forfeiture for possessing less than 2.5 ounces
of marijuana or up to 12 plants.

The law would expire on June 30, 2007 if it is not reauthorized by
the General Assembly, in the meantime, DOH would send a report to
lawmakers detailing any abuse or arrests connected with the legislation.

Both Providence Rep. Thomas Slater, the sponsor of the House bill and
a Washington, D.C. -based marijuana lobbying group chided Carcieri
for his veto threat.

"Governor Carcieri claims he cannot sign a law that contradicts
federal law, yet he allowed a prescription drug importation bill to
pass into law last year despite being warned by the FDA that such a
law was unconstitutional -- something that is clearly not the case
with medical marijuana," said Neal Levine, director of state policies
for the Marijuana Policy Project. "The governor should stop making
phony excuses and sign the medical marijuana bill."

Neal said comparing the medical marijuana bill to the Canadian drug
reimportation law is "comparing apples to oranges."

The medical marijuana bill puts individual Rhode Island citizens in
jeopardy of federal prosecution, Neal said, which is not the case
with the Canadian drug law. Also, he said, the Canadian drug law
gives hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders access to safe drugs
that have been approved for use by the government, while the
marijuana bill is aimed at helping a smaller group of citizens access
a banned substance.