Abortion bill passes in House; now heads to Senate for vote

PROVIDENCE, RI (WLNE) — A controversial abortion bill has passed in the House of Representatives.

It’s been a divisive issue this whole season and after the bill narrowly made it out of committee, advocates on both sides made another passionate push for it to become law.

The Reproductive Privacy Act passed the house to a 44-30 vote.

The bill sponsors said it’s a way to codify the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling from the 70’s.

This was a vote nowhere close to party lines, with many lawmakers debating passionately for hours.

Cheers rang out from the House chambers Thursday night after the House of Representatives passed the Reproductive Privacy Act 44-30.

Representatives Anastasia Williams and Christopher Blazejewski are some of the bill sponsors.

They said if this becomes law, decisions from Washington about abortion won’t affect Rhode Island.

“Protect the women and girl’s in the state of Rhode Island before Washington comes down and does something crazy,” said Williams.

But not all Democrats were on the same page during the vote.

“We got the result that we have it’s democracy in action,” said Speaker Mattiello.

He is known to be pro-life and is one of several Democrats voting no.

“I don’t kill bugs in my house… I wrap them up and put them outside and my wife laughs at me. At the end of the day… that’s how I choose to live my life,” Mattiello said.

What makes this vote stand out, according to Mattiello is that it’s a passionate issue that has nothing to do with politics.

“Most of the things that come out of committee there’s a lot of agreement on. This is a social issue where people have good faith but very different and strong views,” said Mattiello.

The bill now heads to the Senate and if it makes it to Governor Raimondo’s desk, she has said in the past that she would sign it.

The bill sponsors felt tonight’s vote was more meaningful as Friday is International Women’s Day.

©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2019