Senate passes “24 hr waiting period”
Senate Passes “24 hr Waiting Period”
by a vote of 27 to 9
Please contact your senator regarding their vote. Below, please find talking points.
The following senators voted in favor of instituting a 24 hour waiting period:
Senator Algiere (Westerly, Charlestown) (h) 596-2215
Senator Alves (Bill Sponsor) (West Warwick) (h) 828-4604
Senator Badeau (Woonsocket, Cumberland) (h) 766-7574
Senator Blais (Scituate, Foster, Coventry) (h) 826-2326
Senator Breene (West Greenwich, Richmond, Hopkinton, Exeter, Charlestown) (h) 397-9408
Senator Ciccone (Providence, North Providence) (h) 275-0949
Senator Cote (Woonsocket, North Smithfield) (h) 765-3360
Senator Damiani (East Providence) (h) 433-4522
Senator DaPonte (Pawtucket, East Providence) (h) 434-6701
Senator Doyle (Pawtucket) (h) 729-9988
Senator Felag (Warren, Tiverton, Bristol) (h) 245-7521
Senator Fogarty (North Smithfield, Glocester, Burrillville) (h) 949-0895
Senator Gallo (Cranston) (h) 942-8566
Senator Goodwin (Providence) (h) 272-3102
Senator Issa (Pawtucket, Cumberland, Central Falls) (h) 723-9700
Senator Lanzi (Cranston) (h) 946-7125
Senator Lenihan (Warwick, North Kingstown, East Greenwich) (h) 884-6398
Senator McBurney (Pawtucket) (h) 725-2459
Senator McCaffrey (Warwick) (h) 739-7576
Senator Metts (Providence) (h) 272-0112
President of the Senate, Senator Montalbano (Pawtucket, North Providence, Lincoln) (h) 353-3665
Senate Majority Leader, Senator Paiva-Weed (Newport, Jamestown) (h) 846-9984
Senator Polisena (Johnston) (h) 949-3119
Senator Raptakis (West Warwick, Warwick, East Greenwich, Coventry) (h) 397-2720
Senator Ruggerio (Providence, North Providence) (h) 331-6074
Senator Sheehan (North Kingstown, Narragansett) (h) 884-1077
Senator Walaska (Warwick) (h) 737-1065
**Please contact Anne at Planned Parenthood at 421-7820 x3114 to help with organizing in these districts. It is important to hold these Senators accountable.
The following Senators voted against instituting a waiting period. Please thank them for their courage and conviction– it was rough on Tuesday night:
Senator Bates (Bristol, Barrington) (h) 246-1379
Senator Gibbs (Tiverton, Newport, Middletown, Little Compton) (h) 846-1579
Senator Levesque (Portsmouth, Bristol) (h) 683-9194
Senator Perry (Providence) (h) 751-7165
Senator Pichardo (Providence) (w) 222-1849
Senator Revens (Warwick) (h) 738-8362
Senator Roberts (Warwick, Cranston) (h) 785-9068
Senator Sosnowski (South Kingstown, New Shoreham) (h) 783-7704
Senator Tassoni (Smithfield, North Smithfield) (h) 233-2602
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***Neither Senator Caprio (Providence, 455-0055) nor Senator Connors (Lincoln, Cumberland, 728-0828) placed a vote.***
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Don’t Mistake the “Women’s Right to Know Act” for pro-women legislation.
Information on Senate Bill S 275:
- This bill makes NO provisions for victims of rape or incest.
- A state imposed waiting period would postpone procedures by weeks, causing more abortions to be performed later in pregnancy, at greater medical risk to the woman. According to the Journal of American Medical Association, August 27, 1997 - Mississippi Study: “As a result of the 24 hour waiting period law, abortions performed after 12 weeks gestation increased by 39%.”
- This bill requires that women be given state-produced, biased illustrated pamphlets, which amounts to STATE PRODUCED PROPAGANDA at a cost of almost $500,000 annually to the RI taxpayer. This bill does fails to ensure that the taxpayer-funded pamphlets would present medically accurate, non-biased, non-coercive, non-judgmental content.
- The medical community, including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists and the Rhode Island Medical Society, is strongly opposed to procedure specific waiting periods.
- There is already an informed consent law in Rhode Island for abortion (Ch. 23-4.7), which goes above and beyond the informed consent for any other procedure in the state.