2020 -- H 7879

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LC004943

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- THE LIFE APPROPRIATIONS ACT

     Introduced By: Representatives McLaughlin, Jackson, and Vella-Wilkinson

     Date Introduced: February 26, 2020

     Referred To: House Finance

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Title 23 of the General Laws entitled "HEALTH AND SAFETY" is hereby

amended by adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 4.14

LIFE APPROPRIATIONS ACT

     23-4.14-1. Legislative findings.

     The general assembly finds that:

     (1) The state of Rhode Island facilitates the disbursement of both state and federal funds to

qualifying entities for purposes of conducting certain activities;

     (2) Public dollars awarded to qualifying entities may facilitate or subsidize directly or

indirectly expenses or activities not directly related to those for which the funds were intended,

including, without limitation shared administrative costs, overhead, employee salaries, rent,

utilities, and various other expenses;

     (3) It is possible that public dollars made available by or through the state of Rhode Island

may be awarded to an entity that performs convenience abortions or subsidizes or otherwise

facilitates the entity's ability to perform convenience abortions although the funds that were not

disbursed specifically for the purpose of performing convenience abortions;

     (4) As elected representatives of the people of Rhode Island the members of the general

assembly are entrusted with ensuring that all activities conducted with the aid of public funds are

in accordance with the "wishes of the people of Rhode Island and the intent of the laws of this state;

     (5) It is within the purview of the general assembly to establish criteria as the basis on

which public funds are disbursed unless prohibited by the United States Constitution;

     (6) The United States is a Constitutional Republic of which the state of Rhode Island is a

part;

     (7) The United States Constitution preempts state action, when they conflict under the

doctrine of preemption;

     (8) The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution

states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion;"

     (9) The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution

applies to the state of Rhode Island through the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States

Constitution;

     (10) As elected representatives, the members of the general assembly have a duty under

Article IV of the United States Constitution to not appropriate funds in a manner that violates the

Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution;

     (11) The United States Supreme Court has recognized that Secular Humanism is a religion

for purposes of the Establishment Clause in Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488 (1961) and so have

many federal courts of appeals, such as Malnak v. Yogi, 592 F.2d 197, 200-15 (3d Cir.1979);

Theriault v. Silber, 547 F.2d 1279, 1281 (5th Cir.1977); Thomas v. Review Bd., 450 U.S. 707, 714,

101 S.Ct. 1425, 67 L.Ed.2d 624 (1981); Lindell v. McCallum, 352 F.3d 11071, 1110 (7th 19

Cir.2003); Real Alternatives, Inc. v. Sec'y Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 150 F. Supp. 3d 419,

2017 WL3324690 (3d Cir. Aug. 4, 2017); and Wells v. City and County of Denver, 257 F.3d 1132,

1148 (10th Cir. 2001);

     (12) The naked assertions that "abortion is not murder," "that abortion is not immoral," and

that "life does not begin at conception" are unproven faith-based assumptions that are implicitly

religious and are unproven truth claims that are inseparably linked to the religion of secular

humanism;

     (13) Many taxpayers, who are non-observers to the religion of secular humanism, object to

their tax dollars being spent to enable convenience abortions because such appropriations

coercively causes them to violate their conscience by forcing them to indirectly endorse non-secular

acts that they consider to be immoral and offensive;

     (14) Some taxpayers in Rhode Island consider convenience abortions to be modern day

child sacrifice conducted on the altar of convenience, which is a practice that is non-secular and

controversial;

     (15) The Establishment Clause prohibits the state of Rhode Island from enforcing,

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respecting, recognizing, favoring, or endorsing policies that fund abortion facilities with tax dollars

because the practices are non-secular and such appropriations have the effect of excessively

entangling the government with the religion of secular humanism, putting religion over non-

religion;

     (16) The direct or indirect subsidization or facilitation of abortion with funds distributed

by the state constitutes paying for an abortion and, therefore, conflicts with the First Amendment

Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution;

     (17) The state of Rhode Island may not favor or endorse one religion over another, nor may

the state of Rhode Island favor or endorse the religion of secular humanism generally over non-

religion;

     (18) It is the policy of the state of Rhode Island to:

     (i) Favor childbirth and family planning services that do not include convenience abortions

or the promotion of convenience abortions within the continuum of care or services; and

     (ii) Avoid the direct or indirect use of state funds to promote or support convenience

abortions; and

     (19) The state of Rhode Island has a compelling interest to uphold community standards

of decency; and

     (20) Abortion facilities that provide convenience abortions tend to erode community

standards of decency.

     23-4.14-2. Definitions.

     As used in this chapter:

     (1) ''Abortion referral" means the act of recommending a pregnant woman to a doctor,

clinic, or other person or entity for the purpose of obtaining or learning about obtaining a

convenience abortion;

     (2) "Affiliate" means an individual or entity that, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, is

controlled by, or is under the common control of another person or entity, in whole or in part, or a

subsidiary, parent, or sibling entity;

     (3) "Convenience abortion" is an elective abortion that means the act of using or prescribing

an instrument, medicine, drug, device, or another substance or means with the intent to terminate

the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those

means will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the unborn child.

     (i) An act under subsection (3) of this section is not a convenience abortion if the act is

performed with the intent to:

     (A) Save the life of the mother;

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     (B) Save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child;

     (C) Remove a dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion;

     (D) Remove an ectopic pregnancy; or

     (E) Abort and remove an unborn child that is the result of rape or incest.

     (4) "Pregnancy" means the female reproductive condition of having an unborn child in the

woman's uterus; and

     (5) "Unborn child" means the offspring of human beings from fertilization until birth.

     23-4.14-3. Awarding of public funds to entities that perform convenience abortions

prohibited by the First Amendment Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.

     (a) In view of the First Amendment Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution,

an agency or instrumentality of the state shall not award a grant to pay the direct or indirect costs

of performing, inducing, referring, or counseling in favor of abortions, including without limitation:

     (1) Administrative costs and expenses;

     (2) Overhead costs;

     (3) Employee salaries;

     (4) Rent and mortgage payments; or

     (5) Telephone and other utility payments.

     Such appropriations constitute an endorsement of non-secular conduct that is inseparably

linked to the religion of secular humanism and has the effect of excessively entangling the state of

Rhode Island with the religion of secular humanism.

     (b) In view of the First Amendment Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution,

an agency or instrumentality of the state shall not grant, appropriate, or distribute a grant to an

individual or entity that:

     (1) Performs convenience abortion, induces convenience abortions, provides convenience

abortion referrals, or counsels in favor of convenience abortions; or

     (2) Is an affiliate of a person or entity that performs abortions, induces abortions, provides

abortion referrals, or counsels in favor of convenience abortions because such appropriations have

the effect of endorsing non-secular practices that excessively entangles the government with the

religion of secular humanism;

     23-4.14-4. Construction.

     (a)(1) This chapter shall not affect the funding of a hospital, medical school, or university.

     (2) The restrictions of § 23-4.14-3 do not apply to funding available through the Rhode

Island Medicaid program.

     (b) This chapter does not create or recognize:

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     (1) A right to an abortion; or

     (2) A right to public funds, a contract, or a grant.

     (c) This chapter recognizes:

     (1) The members of the general assembly have a duty to comply with the Establishment

Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution pursuant to Article VI;

     (2) That convenience abortions are by their nature non-secular practices that are implicitly

religious and inseparably linked to the religion of secular humanism;

     (3) That the state of Rhode Island is prohibited under the First Amendment Establishment

Clause from funding or promoting convenience abortions directly or indirectly because such

appropriations constitute an endorsement of the religion of secular humanism and have the effect

of excessively entangling the government with the religion of secular humanism;

     (4) That the United States Supreme Court and this general assembly have recognized that

secular humanism is a religion for the purposes of the Establishment Clause and convenience

abortions are non-secular practices that are inseparably linked to the religion of secular humanism;

     (5) That it is the policy of the state of Rhode Island to favor childbirth and family planning

services that do not include convenience abortions or the promotion of convenience abortions

within the continuum of care or services and to avoid the direct or indirect use of state funds to

promote or support convenience abortions;

     (6) That the state of Rhode Island has a compelling interest to uphold community standards

of decency; and

     (7) That facilities that provide convenience abortions tend to erode community standards

of decency by encouraging promiscuity and normalizing false permission giving beliefs about sex.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- THE LIFE APPROPRIATIONS ACT

***

     This act would create the life appropriations act which would prohibit public dollars made

available by or through the state of Rhode Island to be awarded to any entity that performs

convenience abortions or otherwise facilitates the entity's ability to perform convenience abortions.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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