Hundreds of people are protesting the ban on abortion in Alabama: "My body, my choice!"

May 20, 2019, 3:00 UTC

By Associated press

Hundreds of protesters went to the Capitol of Alabama on Sunday to protest the recently approved abortion ban by the state, chanting "My body, my choice!" and "vote them!"

The protest took place a few days after Governor Kay Ivey signed the country's strictest abortion law – making abortion a crime in almost all cases, unless it was necessary to the health of the mother. The law provides no exception for rape and incest.

"The ban on abortion does not end abortion, it ends safe abortion," said Staci Fox, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, the crowd jubilant in front of the Capitol of Alabama.

Alabama is part of a wave of conservative states seeking to launch new legal remedies against Roe v. Wade, 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion all over the country. The governors of Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia have approved the ban on abortion once the fetal heart rate is detected, which can happen as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.

None of these laws have come into force and all should be blocked by the courts, because court challenges take place in the highest perspective of the Supreme Court.

The marchers said Sunday that the measures had spurred proponents of legalized abortion and that they were preparing for a legal and political battle. Along the road, protesters passed scattered counter protesters, waving placards against abortion.

At the rally on the Capitol steps, two speakers recounted their abortion history, including a woman who came out of the crowd to describe the abortion she had suffered after being raped at the time of her death. A party at 18 years old.

Deborah Hall, 69, of Montgomery, 69, carries an orange sign with a hanger and the caption "No Never Again". She remembers life before Roe and can not believe the efforts to return.

"I had friends who had practiced illegal abortions and who had barely survived," said Hall, who for a time led a Montgomery clinic offering abortion services, birth control and others.

"I still can not believe it – it's really a scary time for everyone," she said of the push to overthrow Roe.

Similar protests took place in Birmingham and Huntsville on Sunday.

Amanda Reyes, who heads the Yellowhammer Fund, a non-profit organization that provides funding to help low-income women get an abortion, said donations have begun to flow since the bill was passed. 'Alabama.

The groups this week have paid for a small plane carrying a banner "The abortion, it's okay!" to encircle the Capitol and the Governor's Mansion.

The Alabama law would make it a crime punishable by a term of up to 99 years or life imprisonment for performing an abortion. There would be no punishment for the woman who undergoes the abortion.

But the protest outside the Capitol is being held in a state where a majority of voters recently agreed to put an anti-abortion language in the Alabama constitution. In November, 59% of voters approved the constitutional amendment stating that the state recognized the rights of "unborn children".

"For the many supporters of the bill, this bill strongly testifies to the deep conviction of the Alabamians that all life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift of God," Ivey said in a statement after the signing of the bill. l & # 39; ban.

The law of Alabama has also been the subject of criticism from some conservatives who have expressed their discomfort at the lack of exceptions for rape and incest.

President Donald Trump, while not mentioning the Alabama law, wrote in a weekend tweet that he was strongly "pro-life" but that he favored the exceptions.

"As most people know, and for those who would like to know it, I am strongly in favor of life, with the exception of rape, incest and the protection of the life of the mother – the same position adopted by Ronald Reagan, "writes Trump. a series of tweets.

Representative Terri Collins, the godmother of the Alabama law, said the goal was to challenge Roe and added that Alabama lawmakers can come back and add exemptions if states resume control of access to abortion.