Anti-choice politicians have introduced an onslaught of legislation intended to outlaw abortion in your state. Please take a few moments to oppose these extremist bills and tell Rhode Island lawmakers to stop their attacks on reproductive rights.
HR 5996 establishes legal personhood once a “fetal heartbeat” is detected. Such bills are a favorite of the anti-choice Religious Right, intended to outlaw abortion after an embryonic pulse (not heartbeat) can be detected (as early as five weeks). Most women do not even know they are pregnant that early, which is, of course, the point.
HB 5865 could make abortion illegal as early as eight weeks gestation based on anti-choice pseudoscientific evidence.
HB 5582 and HB 5037 would hinder access to abortion later in pregnancy. These bills are categorically unnecessary. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, late-term abortions (those after 20 weeks) accounted for just over 1 percent of abortions in 2016. Medical experts say there is no evidence that fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks, and fetuses “surviving abortion” is an event that is exceedingly rare and typically occurs when a doctor must induce labor to terminate a nonviable pregnancy.
The Rhode Island House Committee on Judiciary will consider these bills on Friday, April 9, at 2 p.m. local time. Click on the red “Take Action” link below to contact all members of this committee and urge them to oppose these bills. Feel free to use or adapt the talking points provided.
