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March for Life 2019 (Photo: Erica Lizza)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (CNS) -- By passing a bill to ban abortion in nearly all circumstances, the Alabama Legislature has recognized that abortion is "the extinguishing of a unique human life," said the president and CEO of Americans United for Life.

"From conception to natural death, every single human life deserves to be protected by law. The violence of abortion is never the answer to the violence of rape," said Catherine Glenn Foster in a May 15 statement. "Like other states that have passed laws concerning when life begins, Alabama has relied upon scientific and medical facts."

 

The state Senate passed the measure late May 14 in a 25-6 vote. It includes exceptions for when the life or health of the mother is seriously threatened and when the child has a fatal disease. It bans abortion in all other circumstances, including rape and incest, and would make performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison.

It now heads to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, who has not stated publicly if she will sign it. The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved it in early May.

If the bill becomes law, Alabama will have the most restrictive abortion law in the country. Legal challenges that are expected to be filed swiftly also could "become fodder for the swirling debate over if -- and when -- the Supreme Court might consider overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling," CNN reported.

Republican state Rep. Terry Collins said after the vote that bill was meant to challenge Roe v. Wade and protect the lives of the unborn, "because an unborn baby is a person who deserves love and protection."

In the debate leading up to the vote, Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, an opponent of the bill, called it "a sad day in Alabama. You just said to my daughter, you don't matter, you don't matter in the state of Alabama."

Afterward, he was quoted as saying the state and supporters of the measure "ought to be ashamed" Singleton added: "Women in this state didn't deserve this. This is all about political grandstanding." Other opponents called the bill cruel and a "war on women."

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a national pro-life group, called passage of the near-total ban on abortion "a landmark victory for the people of Alabama who, like most Americans, overwhelmingly reject the extreme status quo of abortion on demand imposed nationwide by Roe v. Wade."

"Across the nation there is growing momentum, informed by science and compassion, and spurred on in reaction to abortion extremism in New York and Virginia, to recognize the humanity of the unborn child in the law," she said.

"It is clearer than ever that Roe is far from being settled law in the eyes and hearts of the American people, and this is increasingly reflected in state legislatures," she added.

More: Abortion
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Rudolph Koser
4 years 10 months ago

They're not prolife. They are pro fetus. The hell with people after they're born.

Crystal Watson
4 years 10 months ago

So, they finally drop the mask, the pretense that pro-life people actually care about women, because now they believe they have the power, with Trump and his suck-ups on the Supreme Court, to crush women back into submission. This won't work, it will instead cause a backlash against the woman-hating Republican party and the pro-lifers who are a part of that.

Douglas Fang
4 years 10 months ago

As I said here a few times, the so-called pro-life supporters are either lying or hypocritical. They are only pro-birth. If they are pro-life, why they don’t advocate policies to change the current situation where America is the riskiest of all the advanced countries for pregnant women? Are they willing to accept higher tax and spending to help women in all stages of pregnancy from prenatal to postnatal and child care?

If not, then all the talk about anti-abortion is just empty, fake, and only serves as an exploitation scheme to get votes from the “religious” or “devout” believers.

I really hate abortion and consider it a grave sin in front of God. However, outlawing it in the manner of the Alabama bill is too extreme even for a fundamental Christian like Pat Roberson.

Michael Bindner
4 years 10 months ago

At best, the pro-life leaders are trying to look busy to justify their fundraising. At worst, they are trying to bring back the state power regime of Plessy, junking everything from Latino rights and desegregation to gay marriage This is a reactionary feature, not a flaw.

Michael Bindner
4 years 10 months ago

http://xianleft.blogspot.com/2019/05/sour-home-alabama.html?m=1

Vincent Gaglione
4 years 10 months ago

One does wonder about the sincerity of the citizens of Alabama on “pro-life” issues when these facts are considered:

https://www.waaytv.com/content/news/510008182.html

There are 46 hospitals in Alabama that offer obstetrical care, but they exist in only 29 of Alabama's 67 counties

Maternal deaths in Alabama are high: 49.2 pregnancy-related deaths per 1,000 live births in 2017, according to information provided by the Alabama Department of Public Health. A report from the CDC says that in 2014, the last year covered in a broad-range study, the average rate nationwide was 18 deaths per 1,000 live births.

In 2017, there were 31 pregnancy-related deaths out of 1,000 live births for white women in Alabama and 84.1 per 1,000 live births for black women and others.
In contrast, between 2011 and 2014, there were an average of 12.4 deaths per 1,000 live births for white women and 40 deaths per 1,000 live births for black women in the United States, according to the CDC.
The CDC also reports that three in five pregnancy-related deaths can be prevented.

It had 7.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births,… the United States on average saw 5.8 deaths per 1,000 births,

There are 6,370 children in Alabama's foster-care system, ….176 children have foster parents and are awaiting adoption. Another 283 foster children are hoping to be adopted but have 'no identified resource,'

Crystal Watson
4 years 10 months ago

Wow, now prominent Republicans like Romney, Meadows and even Trump are repudiating the Alabama anti-abortion law, but America magazine is for it. And you wonder why women are leaving this church.

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