implementation of new abortion restrictions in Louisiana. However, the ruling was made by a narrow margin and the case is due to be reviewed later this year.
Alabama’s Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth said: “Roe must be challenged, and I am proud that Alabama is leading the way.”
Eric Johnston, who founded the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition that helped draft the bill, told NPR: “The dynamic has changed.
“The judges have changed, a lot of changes over that time, and so I think we’re at the point where we need to take a bigger and a bolder step.”
Under the bill, doctors face 10 years in prison for attempting to terminate a pregnancy and 99 years for carrying out the procedure.
A woman who has an abortion would not be held criminally liable, and abortion in cases where the mother’s life is at serious risk are allowed.
WASHINGTON – Alabama has become the latest US state to move to restrict abortions by passing a bill to outlaw the procedure in almost all cases.
The law includes a ban on abortion in cases of rape or incest.
Supporters say they expect the law to be blocked in court but hope that the appeals process will bring it before the Supreme Court.
They want the court, which now has a conservative majority, to overturn the 1973 ruling legalising abortion.
Alabama’s 35-seat Senate is dominated by men, and none of its four female senators backed the ban which will now go to Governor Kay Ivey.
She has said she will only sign it into law once she has considered it.
Sixteen other states are seeking to impose new restrictions on abortion.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court blocked
PROTESTERS outside the courthouse in Alabama as the state passed a bill to outlaw nearly all abortions, creating exceptions only to protect the mother’s health. The bill now goes to the state’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey, who is a strong opponent of abortion but
said she will only sign it once she has considered it. (Reuters)
(CNN)
