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Serious Alabama passes strictest abortion law in the United States

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    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...es-ban-six-weeks-us-no-exemptions-vote-latest

    Alabama's Republican-controlled state senate passed a bill Tuesday to outlaw abortion, making it a crime to perform the procedure at any stage of pregnancy.

    The strictest-in-the-nation abortion ban allows an exception only when the woman's health is at serious risk, and sets up a legal battle that supporters hope will lead to the supreme court overturning its landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

    The measure contains no exception for rape and incest, after lawmakers voted down an amendment Tuesday that would have added such an exception.

    The legislation, which passed by a vote of 25-6, makes it a class A felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, punishable by 10 to 99 years in prison. Women would not face criminal penalties for getting an abortion.

    It goes further than any other state has to restrict abortion. Other states, including neighboring Georgia, have instituted bans on abortion after about six weeks into pregnancy.

    The vote came after a battle broke out over whether to allow legal abortions for women who become pregnant due to rape or incest, an issue that divided Republicans who otherwise supported outlawing abortion.

    Last week, chaos erupted on the floor when Republican leaders stripped out the rape exception without a roll call vote, leading the final vote to be postponed. It got a full vote on Tuesday, but ultimately failed.


    Which states are seeking to make abortion illegal and who is behind it?
    Read more
    Lawmakers approved the legislation after a debate that stretched more than four hours, where minority Democrats introduced a slew of amendments in an attempt to block it.

    "You don't have to raise that child. You don't have to carry that child. You don't have to provide for that child. You don't have to do anything for that child, but yet you want to make the decision for that woman," the state senator Vivian Davis Figures told the bill's proponents.

    She introduced amendments that would require the state to expand Medicaid, force legislators who vote for the measure to pay the state's legal bills, or make it a crime for men to get vasectomies. All failed.

    Figures questioned the backers' resistance to adding an exception for rape and incest. "Do you know what it's like to be raped?" she said. "Why would you not want a woman to at least have that exception for such a horrific act?"

    The bill has already passed the house. It must now be signed by the state's governor, Kay Ivey.

    The legislation is poised for an immediate legal challenge and to be overturned at least by the lower courts.
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    Alabama has passed the first realistic threat to Roe vs. Wade, via designing an overtly draconian law crafted solely to get booted up to the Supreme Court. What do you think?
     
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    Good preview of a post Roe v Wade US, the states will decide how far they want their abortion laws to go and the people will either support such a thing or vote the lawmakers out.
     
    This is embarrassing for the state of Alabama. If a woman wants to terminate her pregnancy enough, she'll do it through whatever means necessary. God forbid it occurs in a safe, controlled environment, right?
     
    I generally don't consider myself either pro-life or pro-choice, I believe that abortion should absolutely be well-regulated and not treated as a "contraceptive" option, but I think there are definitely times when it becomes a potentially valid option. I'm okay with the existence of a bill in this manner that creates heavier regulation - I am not okay with the total lack of nuance and flexibility in the bill.
     
    erik destler said:
    This is embarrassing for the state of Alabama. If a woman wants to terminate her pregnancy enough, she'll do it through whatever means necessary. God forbid it occurs in a safe, controlled environment, right?
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    Yeah, this will only lead to more "back alley" abortions and preventable deaths/health issues.
    Also you can tell these laws are made by people who have no idea how women's bodies work. Periods are not always definite, it may take more than 6 weeks to find out if you are pregnant. I myself have PCOS so I haven't had a period in a year but I'm not pregnant, it's just my body.
     
    Personally, I think something like this shouldn't be up to politicians. It should be up to the pregnant woman if she wants to get an abortion or not. It's their choice.
    I definitely agree that life is precious and such but if people are gonna worry about that then just make birth control and such easier to get, promote people to use it. Or y'know.. don't have intercourse at all if you don't want a kid, but that would be waaay too much to ask people.. -_-
     
    Yeah, the politicians making this do have the same experiences as the women who are likely seeking the abortion. Also I think proper sex ed in schools and more access to contraceptives and making them more available would help but, being blunt, there are unfortunate a lot of people out there who see women as baby making machines.
     
    Tsutarja said:
    I can't wait to see the lawsuits about this in federal court, and I'm sure that and competent judge would overturn this if it does get challenged.

    However, it's ultimately the president's job to uphold federal decisions above state decisions, which I do not foresee the current executive branch holding these up.
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    It's not entirely unheard of for an administration to not defend a law they disagree with in court. Obama did it with the Defense of Marriage Act in 2011, and Trump did it with Obamacare in 2017. That all being said this seems to be heading to the Supreme Court one way or another.

    Marth said:
    Yeah, this will only lead to more "back alley" abortions and preventable deaths/health issues.
    Also you can tell these laws are made by people who have no idea how women's bodies work. Periods are not always definite, it may take more than 6 weeks to find out if you are pregnant. I myself have PCOS so I haven't had a period in a year but I'm not pregnant, it's just my body.
    Click to expand...

    Just to note, the bill was sponsored in the lower chamber by Representative Terri Collins, and if signed, will be signed by Governor Kay Ivey. So it's not like the bill is being written and passed by only men.
     
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    Trump has outright said that he wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned and has deliberately appointed justices that are anti-abortion, so I really doubt that he'll do anything other than defend the states passing these sorts of laws.

    Given the composition of the current Supreme Court, I'm not optimistic about the direction this is all going.
     
    This wouldn't survive a challenge in court. It seems that the law as it currently is in the state, it would violate the ruling of Roe V. Wade. If anything is to be said of the current state of the Supreme Court, I don't see it going in a positive direction.
     
    EnglishALT said:
    Just to note, the bill was sponsored in the lower chamber by Representative Terri Collins, and if signed, will be signed by Governor Kay Ivey. So it's not like the bill is being written and passed by only men.
    Click to expand...

    I didn't mention men, I just said people, because sadly there are a lot of women out there who hate themselves. I mean, can they not put them themselves in another persons shoes and empathize with fellow women?
     
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    I guess in Alabama they look down on sex before marriage, and marriage means that the woman agrees to become a baby making machine? Since, you know, no birth control measure sans abstaining or sterilization is 100% effective.

    It's depressing to see how social development goes backwards in some parts of the world.
     
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    catch me uhhh ashamed to live here. dont get me wrong i was ashamed to live here before but now i am even more so.

    i honestly think this is a horrible decision. women are just going to resort to back alley ways of abortion and it's going to cause so much chaos everywhere. women have the right to do what they want with their bodies. i'm so disgusted that this bill managed to get passed.

    then again alabama seems to be full of conservatives and it's in the bible belt, so..
     
    I really am ashamed of my state. We cannot even afford to take care of the children that we already have and rank 50th in education. This has nothing to do with caring about unborn babies but the men who run this state just want to have complete power over women. It's disgusting. Abortion is a fucking right and it is being yanked away in so many states by old white men.
     
    This is absolutely appalling and disgusting. It's not up to the government what a woman wants/does w/her body. It's a woman's choice if she wants to carry a baby or not. What's worse is that more states are trying to ban abortion or already have. Why the fuck should cishet rich white men get to decide abortion isn't allowed? This is literally a violation of human rights.
     
    To be frank abortion has taught irresponsibility, women should know having unprotected sex can lead to pregnancy. If said women didn't want a child or couldn't afford having a child then why are they having sex in the first place? Mainly because even if your using protection it could fail, so why take the risk? The only exception to me is if it is rape, incest, or a legit threat to a womens physical health. Also I think we need to try to mandate some sort of birth control measure.

    I also don't get the my body arguments when that developing human being is not your body, but somebody elses even if it is in a womens womb.

    If I was a governor of a state I would definitely be demanding sex-ed courses be mandatory in school for all students and ensure that birth control was reachable by all women in a aid to attempt to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but I would also put out there that not having sex is the best form of birth control that there is.

    Would I go out of the way to insult a women who had a abortion? No. I am actually a christian, but I wouldn't dislike anyone for a mistake an women made. I know some religions despise birth control, but I don't know why as I don't see it as being against a religion.

    As for this bill it went to far because it didn't include exceptions for rape, incest, or physical health for a women.

    While some of you support abortion, I simply can't for the reasons I said above minus my exceptions. That is my opinion on this matter, and while not all of you will agree with my thoughts I think women need to learn to take measures to not risk pregnancy.
     
    I'm Libertarian so the Libertarian in me says that Government needs to just get the hell out of the way when it comes to issues such as this. That said, I have a few statements I'd like to get off my chest. Firstly, Abortion is not explicitly mentioned in the USA Constitution so when Elected officials or anyone says that its a "Constitutional Right" are either lying or are blatantly ignorant. Secondly, the biggest provider of Abortions is Planned Parenthood. Rather ironic name when you think about it since the name implies support and advice on reproducing and not doing the exact opposite(which is what Abortion is). Third, one of the root causes of this whole debate that doesn't get enough attention is the $$$$$$$$$$$$$. Planned Parenthood gets gobs of Federal and State cash to run their operations, some of which they funnel back into Lobbyists and Elected Officials to keep the $$$$$ train coming. I don't know about you but that reeks of Corruption(Taxpayer funded may I add). Four, the bill that Alabama passed went over the line because it left little time(6 weeks? Fuck that... even the Catholic in me knows that's too short) or flexibility with respect to exceptions. I know that if I were female and I was raped that I would not want the baby as it would give me a daily reminder of what happened to me.
     
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