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Might we please at least present testimony Mr. Speaker?

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

For immediate release:
May 26, 2010

For more information:
Barth E. Bracy, Executive Director
Office: 401.521.1860 / Mobile: 401.225.8646

Might we please at least present testimony Mr. Speaker?

Providence, RI—In a Tuesday afternoon hearing, the R.I. House Committee on Corporations, chaired by Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy (D-Westerly, Hopkinton), refused to allow testimony by the Rhode Island State Right to Life Committee. The bill in question was S-2203, which creates licensing guidelines for genetic counselors.

According to Barth E. Bracy, Executive Director of Rhode Island Right to Life, “Genetic counseling can be used for good or for evil, in the same way that fire can be used to cook food or burn down a house. Insofar as genetic counseling can be used in order to enhance and sustain human life and well being, it is a good thing. And we agree that the State of Rhode Island has an interest in regulating the practice of genetic counseling.”

“Our primary concern regarding the Genetic Counseling Licensure Act” Bracy continues, “is to include at least some conscience protection for genetic counselors who do not accept abortion as a valid treatment option in cases where some disability or undesired trait is possible, probable, or even present in an unborn child.”

Bracy points out that “our concern is particularly acute because the bill specifically establishes the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) as consultant to the State of Rhode Island. The NSGC is on record as supporting access to abortion. Indeed, they took a public position in favor of the so-called Freedom of Choice Act, the most radically pro-abortion piece of legislation ever filed in Congress.”

Rhode Island Right to Life is extremely disturbed that the House Committee on Corporations refused to allow its testimony to be heard. “I do not quite know what to make of the situation,” says Bracy, “I waited for two hours with the expectation that I would be given at least two minutes to articulate our position. It seems clear that the current House Leadership team is hostile to our pro-life principles, but I would at least expect them to allow our position to be heard and considered.”

About Rhode Island Right to Life: Rhode Island Right to Life was founded in 1970 with the mission to advocate for a state, nation and world in which the innocent lives of the unborn, the disabled, the elderly and the ill are valued by the citizenry and protected by civil law. RI Right to Life lobbies for legislation that advances the cause of the sanctity of human life at both the state and federal levels. RI Right to Life is the state affiliate of the National Right to Life committee.

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