In Alabama, abortion clinics have virtually disappeared. But these lawyers are still fighting.

May 10, 2019, 19:21 UTC

By Annie Rose Ramos

MONTGOMERY, Alaska – The six people sitting on the porch have just returned from a demonstration supporting women's reproductive rights outside the state capital and are planning the next one.

This group of turbulent activists has taken up residence in his antebellum house, flanked by a rainbow flag, the POWER House (People's Organization for Strengthening Women's Rights). Between meeting planning, organizing resources and holding meetings, group volunteers accompany women seeking services at the nearby clinic.

The clinic, Reproductive Health Services, is one of three abortion clinics left in the state of Alabama.

"By the end of the 1990s, we had more than 20 clinics in the state. And now, in 2019, we have three for the entire state, "said Mia Raven, founder and director of POWER HOUSE.

Raven and other POWER House members stood on the steps of the Alabama State House on Thursday morning to protest against HB314, a bill that equates to an almost total ban on abortions.

By the time legislators ran to vote, the women waved placards saying "Abortion is a human right."

The fight was so violent among lawmakers at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that the vote was postponed until Tuesday.

"If you get rid of abortions, basically, that will not go away. It will become more and more dangerous, "said Bianca Cameron-Schwiesow, a clinic escort for POWER House.

POWER House volunteers say reproductive health services is the only clinic located between Tampa, Florida, and Jackson, Mississippi.

"That's why we have so many women from Louisiana, Florida and Georgia," said Raven, explaining how difficult it is for women to have access to qualified doctors.

Alabama is one of more than a dozen states whose laws require that women visit an abortion clinic twice. Raven said this was particularly difficult for low-income women who "can not afford child care or a place to sleep or refuel even to come here." and come back."

Raven and POWER House volunteers help women seeking services at the nearby clinic.

"The protesters shouted at them and yelled at them, calling them" murderers ", calling them all sorts of names," she said. The volunteers meet women in their cars, hold their hand, help them to get to the doors of the clinic so that they are not approached by the protesters. If women bring their children to the clinic, volunteers help to babysit or offer to house their own homes if they come from the city and do not have enough money to stay.

Cameron-Schwiesow and two other women disguised as maids for Thursday's protest at Alabama State House.

"We are here to be ashamed. Shame on them for doing this to women, shame on their war on women and trying to eliminate the health care women need here in this state, desperately, "she said. she declared.

Under Alabama law, doctors could be sentenced to 99 years in prison for practicing an abortion procedure.

In the version adopted by the State House, the only exception was the health of the mother. A Senate committee added an exception for the rape, but the Senate suddenly filed the exemptions for rape and incest Thursday.

A couple from Alabama, Rex and Wanda Ponder, who said they expect their first grandchild in the coming months, believe that abortion should be illegal across the country.

"The body is created by God and he has created women with the ability to have a child," said Rex Ponder. "We are responsible for what God has given us."

The Alabama bill is sponsored by Republican State Representative Terri Collins, who said in a statement: "The adoption of this bill will reflect the beliefs, principles and the conservative desires of the citizens of Alabama ".

If the bill is passed, the bill should face legal challenges.

In the statement that preceded the tumultuous appearance of the bill in the Senate, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama warned, "If the Senate and the entire governor want to pass this bill, they will tell us will see in court.

But for many legislators, the bill is not so much a change in Alabama as the overthrow of Roe v. Wade all over the country.

For Collins, the bill "provides a way to revisit the Roe v. Wade decision, which is flawed by the Constitution," noted his statement.

In the United States, nearly one in four women will have an abortion before the age of 45, according to a study conducted in 2017 by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization.

"Everyone loves someone who has had an abortion," Raven said.

Raven admitted that passage of the bill would not be a shock to her, but she did not expect it to be passed so quickly.

"Extremists are starting here in the South to prevent women from having an abortion, and they are making their way out," Cameron-Schwiesow said.

"These blue states have to be careful, fund us, help fight us," she warned, "otherwise their rights will also disappear, and they will not be able to benefit either. They are as follows. "