Update (May 15, 2019): The Alabama Senate voted to pass legislation all but banning abortions throughout the state. The legislation does not allow any exception for rape or incest after urging by the state's Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth.
The bill passed in a 25-6 vote Tuesday night, and will now be moved to Governor Key I've who is expected to sign the bill into law despite withholding public comment on the legislation.
It's a sad day in Alabama," said Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton in the debate leading up to the vote. "You just said to my daughter, you don't matter, you don't matter in the state of Alabama."
National polling done on the issue of abortion by the Pew Research Center show nearly 60 percent of US adults feel that it should be legal in most cases, with a nearly even split between men and women.
Original:
Alabama is attempting to pass the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, forcing the Supreme Court of the United States to revisit the decision made in the Roe v. Wade case.
"This bill is simply about Roe v. Wade," said Alabama state Rep. Terri Collins, who introduced the Human Life Protection Act that would criminalize abortion leaving doctors that perform the procedure facing up to 99 years in prison. "The decision that was made back in 1973 would not be the same decision that was decided upon today if you relooked at the issue."
Many Democratic lawmakers in the state house walked out in protest before the bill passed 74-3, but Alabama state Rep. John Rogers laid out a different argument of hypocrisy on the issue.
“So you kill them now or you kill them later. You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair," Rep. Rogers said in a speech during the debate in the state house on Wednesday. "So, you kill them now or you kill them later."
Many in Republican circles not only in Alabama state government but around the country quickly jumped on Rogers' statement.
This is stomach curling and makes Ralph Northam look like a moderate on abortion.
Every Democrat running for President needs to be asked where they stand on this. The extreme turn we've seen from Dems on abortion recently is truly sickening. https://t.co/KchZfqvQMK
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 1, 2019
“Every human life, no matter how weak or small, has an inherent dignity because we are all made in the image of God," Alabama state Senate Majority Leader Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said in a statement. "The Alabama Senate looks forward to debating and voting on this important pro-life measure in the coming days.”
On Thursday however, after having his statements make the rounds of Republican talking points, state Rep. Rogers stood by his original words that Alabama doesn't do enough for the living to be truly considered pro-life.
“We’ve closed 13 rural hospitals in this state. Including Cooper Green. We have put hundreds of people in jail. Making it hard for you to get food stamps. In other words, if you’re on drug tests, you can’t get food stamps,” Rogers said in an interview with AL.com. “And then you’ve got at least two people a night dying in our Alabama prisons. It just doesn’t make sense. So why do you want to bring these people in the world and then deny them the right to process and live in Alabama?”
The bill is expected to pass in the Alabama Senate and be signed into law. Recent anti-abortion laws have been signed into law in other states like Georgia.
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