The Alabama Senate adopts an almost total ban on abortion

Republican supporters of the state have advanced legislation, which equates to an almost total ban on abortion in the state, with the express purpose of overthrowing the Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case legalizing abortion. Alabama lawmakers are joining lawmakers from several other states to introduce legislation to restrict abortion, such as Georgia's recent bill on fetal heartbeats.

"While this legislation is still moving forward in the legislative process, the governor intends to withhold any comments until he goes to his office for signature," said the spokeswoman. Ivey, Lori Jhons, in a statement.

The executive director of the American Civil Rights Union of Alabama, Randall Marshall, said his organization would join the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and Planned Parenthood of Southeast's national associations to challenge the bill in " a few weeks "he had to become one.

The review of the bill on Tuesday has often referred to the special vote of the House last week to abandon an amendment that would have provided exemptions for abortions performed in case of rape or incest.

Republican Senator Clyde Chambliss, who introduced the bill in the House, pointed out in her introduction that the bill had consequences for women "known to be pregnant" and that it would provide "every pregnant woman or thinking to be pregnant, and the man who has been involved, that gives them that window of time – this bill does not change that window of time. "

In a press release, Chambliss asserted that his bill banned surgical abortions as soon as a pregnancy could be medically determined. Speaking before the Senate, Chambliss repeatedly referred to a "window" of time between conception and the moment a woman knows for sure that she is pregnant. The state senator stated that he believed that the time was between seven and ten days.

"She has to have a pregnancy test, she has to do something to find out if she is pregnant or not," he said.

"You can not know that right now, it takes time for all these chromosomes and all that."

When Democratic Senator Rodger Smitherman asked what would happen to the bill to a girl incest victim and discovered that she was pregnant, Chambliss said that he hoped that that the bill would allow young women to learn how to get treatment physically and mentally. help quickly if they are abused.

"What I hope, if we pass this bill, is that all girls be educated by their parents, their legal guardians, that if such a situation arose, you had to go out and find You must do it immediately, "said Chambliss. I said.

"Then they can get justice in the situation," he added. "If they wait, justice delayed is justice denied."

Democrat Senator Vivian Figures told Chambliss that the trauma of a rape victim "does not concern you."

"You do not have to bring up that child, you do not have to carry that child, you do not have to support that child, you do not have to nothing to do for this child, "she told Chambliss. "But you want to make that decision for this woman, that's what she has to do."

The figures suggest amendments for lawmakers supporting the bill to pay the legal costs expected following subsequent court challenges, to expand Medicaid in anticipation of the impact of the draft law on low-income women and women. to make vasectomy a class A crime, as the bill would designate the execution of an abortion. The three motions failed.

Eric Johnston, leader of the Alabama Pro-life coalition and initial law editor, told CNN that although the amendment to exempt victims of rape and incest is "understanding" and " deals with very difficult problems ", it would go against the legal framework of the law. permanent.

"Whatever the design, the product is a child, so we say that this unborn child is a person entitled to the protection of the law," he added. "So, whether, that it is a rape or a primitive conception, it would then be impossible to ask a judge which of these is protected by the law and which is not. "

Staci Fox, president of Planned Parenthood Southeast, told CNN before the chamber vote that "even the authors of this bill know that it is patently unconstitutional and that it would not defend the courts" .

"We have seen a steady reduction in the year in Alabama and the efforts are getting bolder every year," Fox said. "I think with the President and now Kavanaugh on the ground, politics in Alabama simply felt encouraged to take this blatant bend for women's health care."

But in the broader legal landscape, Marshall questioned the fact that this bill would never attack Roe, explaining that it would be several years before the case reaches the court. supreme, while several other states have already passed heartbeat bills banning abortion.

"There are already 14 cases going on in the country, two of which are currently before the United States Supreme Court," he said. "The idea that this decision will allow the Supreme Court to reconsider the case Roe v. Wade is really misplaced."

This story has been updated.