PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — State funds may very well be used to pay for well being plans that cowl state employees and Medicaid recipients looking for abortions below a invoice accredited Thursday by the Democrat-controlled Rhode Island Home of Representatives.
Home lawmakers accredited the measure on a 49-24 vote after debating the invoice for about an hour.
The invoice was sponsored by Democratic Home Majority Whip Katherine Kazarian.
Kazarian stated the invoice will assist assure that everybody in Rhode Island who wants reproductive well being companies can have entry.
She stated the invoice wasn’t about reopening the abortion debate. Rhode Island has already codified Roe v. Wade into state legislation.
Opponents, together with Democratic Home Labor Committee Chairman Arthur Corvese, stated it is one factor to finish a being pregnant due to rape, incest or the well being of the mom, and one other to take action as a result of it was unplanned.
“Termination of being pregnant as a technique of after-the-fact contraception is an abomination and unconscionable in a civilized society,” he added.
The invoice would repeal a present part of state legislation banning Rhode Island from together with in any medical health insurance contracts with state staff any provision which gives protection for induced abortions — besides the place the lifetime of the mom can be endangered if the fetus had been carried to time period, or the place the being pregnant resulted from rape or incest.
The invoice now heads to the state Senate.
Gov. Daniel McKee, a Democrat, has stated he would signal the invoice into legislation if it reaches his desk.