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The governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, has just signed the controversial ban on the near total abortion of the state. The new law is the most restrictive anti-abortion measure adopted in the United States since the decision in the Roe v. Wade in 1973.
Bill 314 entitled "Protection of Human Life Act" prohibits all abortions in the state, except when "abortion is necessary to prevent a serious risk to health" for the woman, according to the text of the bill. It criminalizes the procedure by reclassifying abortion as a class A crime, punishable by a maximum sentence of 99 years imprisonment for doctors. Abortion attempts will be reclassified into category C penalties.
The law provides no exception for victims, rape or incest.
"Today, I signed the law on the protection of human life in Alabama," Ivey wrote in a statement Wednesday night. "For the many supporters of the bill, this bill demonstrates the deep conviction of the Alabamians that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift of God."
Office of the Governor of Alabama
The ban on Alabama is the latest in a series of anti-abortion measures taken at the state level that, activists hope, will be taken up by the Supreme Court and could overturn the Roe decision v. Wade, the historic 1973 decision that protects women's right to the procedure.
Last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp enacted the "Fetal Heart Rhythm Bill", a measure that will ban abortions after the detection of a heartbeat in an embryo, usually between five and six weeks after pregnancy, and before pregnancy. most women know that they are pregnant. The state was the sixth to enact such a law and the fourth this year alone.
In previous years, the Supreme Court had refused to hear such cases. But a new ideological composition within the country's highest judicial body, including the recent appointment of trial judge Brett Kavanaugh, has encouraged anti-abortion activists to retry.
Abortion advocates have vowed to challenge Alabama's controversial law long before November, when the law is to be applied.
"We promised to fight this dangerous abortion ban at every step and we heard what we said," said Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, in a statement sent Wednesday to CBS News. . "We have not yet lost a case in Alabama and we are not planning to start now."
Representative Bill Terri Collins said this was the goal. The state legislator called the bill a "direct attack" against Roe v. Wade and expects that it will be challenged by advocates of abortion rights, such as the ACLU, and could possibly be referred to the High Court.
"The heart of this bill is to deal with a court decision in 1973 that claimed the baby in the womb was not a person," Collins said last week at the debate on the bill at Alabama House. "This bill answers that one question: Is this baby in the mother's womb a person, I believe our law says so."
The governor's signature came less than 24 hours after the controversial Senate passed the bill, provoking outrage well beyond Alabama's state borders. Almost all Democratic presidential candidate 2020 weighed to condemn the legislation. In a Wednesday interview with Sirius XM's Joe Madison Show, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker called the measure a "frontal assault on women's reproductive rights, freedom and freedom."
"Not only am I 100% against that, but it is also a double reason for my determination to become President of the United States and to make sure that we adopt the type of federal laws that prevent the US from becoming a president. erosion of women's rights, "said Booker.
Lawmakers of the state of Alabama have also compare abortions in the United States to the Holocaust and other modern genocides in legislation, pushing Jewish activists and abortion groups to reprimand him as "deeply offensive".
In the debate leading up to the vote Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton proposed an amendment that would have provided an exception for victims of rape and incest. During the debate, he introduced three female victims of rape and told his colleagues: "They did not ask what happened to them.This happened, and now they have to to live with."
The amendment was finally rejected: 21 senators voted against the rape and victims exception and 11 voted in favor.
Republican Senator Clyde Chambliss argued that the ban was still fair for victims of rape and incest, as these women would still be allowed to have an abortion "until". she knows she's pregnant, "a statement that sparked a mixture of moans and whistles from the gallery of the room. .
"In a state that has some of the worst health outcomes for women in the country, such as the highest cervical cancer rate, Alabama puts women's lives even higher." peril, "said Dr. Leana Wen, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a statement sent by email to CBS News on Tuesday night. "Politicians who say they love life should advocate for policies to address public health crises that kill women, not dismantle the lack of access to health care for Alabamians."
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