The 2007 session of the Rhode Island General Assembly, still in progress, has introduced several anti-choice legislation. The anti-woman waiting period legislation was set for a hearing in the House Health, Education & Welfare Committee on Wednesday, May 30th. Two different versions of the stillbirth bill passed in both the House and the Senate. All other bills are still in committee.

Certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth, H5086/S0174

This proposed legislation is part of a greater movement to offer stillborn certificates and it’s gaining momentum. The MISS Foundation has proposed legislation across the country referred to as the “MISSing Angels” Act which has emerged as a way to recognize stillborn loss. Although some of these bills may be proposed to elevate the status of the fetus, to go on record as opposing the idea of these bills may be politically problematic and we need to be sensitive to women who might be interested in obtaining a certificate to recognize their pregnancy loss. We were able to get an amendment passed to define stillbirth as the “naturally occurring intrauterine death of a fetus”, thus excluding any language which could allude to abortions in this piece of legislation. Since the bill in RI does contain language which is optional, and not mandatory issuance, we aren’t coming out strongly against the bill. Several states around the country, such as Montana & Alaska, have passed Stillborn Birth Certificate Measures this year.

Waiting Period, H5849

A piece of legislation that aims to pollute the informed consent for abortion process and severely restricts a Rhode Island woman’s right to access abortion received a hearing on May 30, 2007, called the “Women’s Right to Know Act”. The waiting period bill mandates a 24-hour waiting period, after review of state produced and tax-payer financed biased "counseling" materials, before a woman can access abortion services, as well as: disclosure of physicians' names, enhanced reporting requirements, criminal penalties, and grants the father and grandparents of the aborted fetus legal standing to sue physicians, regardless of what the woman wishes. The bill was held for further consideration.