Legislation

The Affiliate also testified in opposition to legislation to require all communities to participate in the federal Secure Communities program, which requires an automatic check of the fingerprints of any arrested individual against immigration databases.

Consideration of a seemingly innocuous bill setting up the framework for a health insurance exchange to implement the new federal health care reform law took a nasty turn when Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed inserted a surprise anti-abortion amendment into the bill.

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.

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.