PROVIDENCE — Senator Cynthia Mendes on Thursday criticized Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio for not letting her introduce after deadline a bill to try to protect Rhode Island-based abortion providers from out-of-state prosecutions.
Mendes, an East Providence Democrat running for lieutenant governor, said the legislation is needed following the May 2 release of a draft US Supreme Court opinion indicating that the high court may be poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
The Senate set Feb. 10 as the last day to submit bills during this legislative session, but senators are allowed to introduce legislation after that date if they get permission from the Senate president.
On May 18, Mendes wrote an email asking for that permission, saying she wanted to draft a bill, similar to New York State’s “Safe Haven Bill,” aimed at protecting Rhode Island doctors who provide abortions to out-of-state residents.
But the Senate’s director of legislation, Kristen Silvia, wrote back, saying she had spoken to Ruggerio and he said “at this time it is too late.”
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On Thursday, Mendes said dozens of bills have been submitted since the February deadline, and she said it’s “common knowledge” that legislators are usually allowed to submit one or two bills after the deadline. But she said it’s no surprise Ruggerio rejected her request.
“I’m not shocked because the Senate president hates me,” Mendes said. “For him to do anything at all for you, you have to spend your political career kissing his ass, and I’m not willing to do that. I have been a vocal critic of his.”
Senate spokesman Greg Pare said that each year senators must submit bills by the Thursday before the legislature’s February break. The Senate president does allow some bill introductions after that point, but “there is no hard or fast number” of introductions allowed per legislator, he said.
“The approval of bill introductions after the deadline is the exception, not the rule,” Pare said.
In an email to Silvia, Mendes wrote, “This is definitely an urgent issue, and I would consider this an emergency piece of legislation.” She said the bill would address “a dangerous vulnerability our healthcare workers are suddenly facing.”
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In an interview, Mendes said that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, there is a real possibility that residents of states that would outlaw abortion would seek abortions in states such as Rhode Island, which has passed a law to protect abortion rights.
“Right now, we would be vulnerable to investigators from states like Alabama and Texas coming into our state and going after our doctors,” she said. “That is a real thing that can happen.”
In Massachusetts, the state Senate has adopted a budget amendment that would provide new protections to reproductive health care providers and out-of-state residents who travel there to seek services including abortion. Massachusetts Democrats say lawmakers in Texas and Oklahoma have enacted “bounty-style provisions” empowering their residents to pursue private legal action against fellow Texans or Oklahomans who travel to Massachusetts for reproductive and gender-affirming care as well as against the Massachusetts workers who provide those services.
Mendes said she would like to see similar legislation introduced and passed in Rhode Island. “I would like to see myself treated the same way as their favorite legislators are treated,” she said.
And Mendes said she would like to see Ruggerio defeated in this year’s elections. “He is anti-choice and anti-woman,” she said, “and there is no place for supposed Democrats like that in Rhode Island.”
When Politico broke the news about the draft Supreme Court opinion, Ruggerio and House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi issued a statement, saying they would defend the Reproductive Privacy Act, which protects abortion rights in Rhode Island in case Roe v. Wade is overturned.
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The support from Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, came as no surprise since he has supported abortion rights in the past. But Ruggerio, a North Providence Democrat, and other Senate leaders also vowed to defend that act although they oppose abortion rights as individuals.
Assembly leaders have not come out in support of the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act, which would let Medicaid recipients and state employees use their health insurance to cover the cost of abortions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on that bill on Tuesday and decided to hold it for further study. Mendes criticized that decision, saying the committee should have have listened to all the testimony before deciding to hold the bill. She said the bill, introduced by Senator Bridget Valverde, a North Kingstown Democrat, should be sent to the Senate floor for a vote.
Pare said, “That bill is going through the committee process, and it’s not unusual that on first hearing, a piece of legislation is held for further study, particularly a bill with a financial impact. The norm is for a bill to held at first and voted on in the future.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.