Legislation

In one of the worst examples of legislative “compromise” on a hot-button issue, Rhode Island now has a civil union law that neither proponents nor opponents of marriage equality wanted.

Abortion also tangled up a bill that sought to establish licensing procedures for the profession of genetic counselor.

The ACLU and others testified in strong opposition to legislation that would require doctors to perform an ultrasound on a woman who has made the decision to abort and explain, in detail, information about the fetus.

In an effort to address a major human rights and civil liberties concern, legislation on behalf of the Affiliate, RI State Nurses Association and RI NOW was introduced to prohibit shackling or otherwise restraining incarcerated pregnant women during labor, delivery and post-recovery.

More than thirty House members are co-sponsoring a bill that, following in the footsteps of Massachusetts, would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

House and Senate committees heard testimony on dangerous legislation requiring the collection of DNA samples from any person arrested for a felony.

Ever since 9/11, the State Police have been fighting to enact a troubling proposal to give law enforcement broad authority to secretly obtain, without a warrant, subscriber information from Internet service providers.

The Affiliate testified in opposition to bills that would eliminate judicial discretion and require installation of an ignition interlock on the vehicle owned by DUI offenders.