Alabama's House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a near-total abortion ban, a piece of legislation that the bill's sponsor called a "direct attack" on Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that protects a woman's right to an abortion. Politicians in the statehouse voted against adding an amendment that would have added an exception for victims of rape and incest.
After several hours of contentious debate Tuesday evening, Alabama politicians overwhelmingly passed House Bill 314, the "Human Life Protection Act," 74 to 3, pushing the bill forward to the state Senate. Of the state's 105 representatives, 28 refused to vote after Republicans blocked the rape and incest amendment.
If passed into law, the legislation would criminalize abortion, classifying it as a Class A felony in Alabama. That means that a doctor caught performing abortions in the state would face up to 99 years in prison under the proposed law.
"The heart of this bill is to confront a decision that was made by the courts in 1973 that said the baby in the womb is not a person," said Representative Terri Collins, the bill's sponsor, during the debate. "This bill addresses that one issue. Is that baby in the womb a person? I believe our law says it is."
Because federal law supersedes state law, Alabama would be in violation
of the U.S. Constitution if lawmakers attempted to implement the
legislation, noted several politicians. If passed, the legislation would
likely join a host of other contested laws that anti-abortion activists hope will rise to the Supreme Court and potentially overturn Roe v. Wade. The proposed law flatly rejects the decision, saying that "judges and legal scholars have disagreed and dissented with its finding."
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