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The House of Representatives of Alabama overwhelmingly approved an almost total ban on abortion, a bill that the sponsor of the bill described as a "direct attack" on Roe v. Wade, historic Supreme Court decision that protects a woman's right to an abortion. Politicians in the state house voted against the addition of an amendment that would have added an exception for rape and incest victims.
After several hours of controversial debate on Thursday night, Alabama politicians overwhelmingly passed Bill 314, entitled "Protection of Human Life Act" 74 to 3, which was referred to the United States. Senate of the State. Of the 105 state representatives, 28 refused to vote after the Republicans blocked the amendment on rape and incest.
If passed, the law will criminalize abortion and classify it as a class A crime in Alabama. This means that a doctor caught performing an abortion in that state incurs up to 99 years in prison under the proposed law.
"The heart of this bill is to face a court decision in 1973 that claimed that the baby in the womb was not a person," said Terri Collins, the representative of the United States. sponsor of the bill, during the debate. "This bill answers that one question: Is this baby in the mother's womb a person, I believe our law says so."
Because federal law replaces state law, Alabama would violate the US Constitution if legislators tried to enforce it, noted several politicians. If passed, the legislation will likely join a host of other contested laws that, hopefully, will be brought to the Supreme Court by anti-abortion activists and could overturn the Roe v. Wade. The bill categorically rejects the decision, stating that "judges and jurists disagree and disagree with his conclusion".
Noting the potential cost of litigation surrounding the prohibition of abortion, Democrats in the House proposed an amendment to the bill that would fund these lawsuits with the salaries of members of the House who voted in favor of the abortion. Adoption of the measure. The amendment was tabled, which means that it was rejected before it could be put to a vote.
Proponents of the bill also tabled a draft amendment that would have added an exception to the law for victims of rape and incest, causing outrage from Democrats in the House.
"What does that say to state women, to state mothers and to grandmothers of the state," said House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels at a press conference, according to the newspaper Brian Lyman, a Montgomery Advertiser journalist who was in the state house on Tuesday.
After the rejection of the amendment, Democrats in the House walked out of the room and refused to vote on the final bill. Representative A J. McCampbell said to Lyman, "We really wanted them to be alone, it's up to them now."
"Today's debate has clearly shown what Alabama lawmakers think of women, as well as how insensitive and blatant they may be," said Staci Fox, President. and Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates, in an email to CBS News. "They voted overwhelmingly to reject any rape or incest exception, and although they recognized that this bill would inevitably lead to litigation, costing taxpayers millions of dollars, they refused the opportunity to "put their money in their mouths", as a representative, Merika Coleman said.
Fox called the bill a "death sentence for women in this state."
State politicians have also failed to eliminate in the bill terms comparing lives lost in the Holocaust to the number of abortions occurring since Roe v. Wade, a comparison that Jewish lawyers have called "outrageously offensive. "
"The Holocaust and other crimes against humanity have absolutely no place in legislation concerning the constitutional right of women to control their own bodies," Nancy Kaufman said on Tuesday. Executive Director of NCJW at CBS News. "The wording of the Alabama bill is unacceptable and sets a dangerous precedent as increasing numbers of states limit access to basic reproductive health care, including HIV." 39, safe and legal abortion. "
Before the vote on Bill 314, politicians welcomed Holocaust survivors and a rabbi to the state tribune in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Alabama.
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