Alabama governor signs toughest US abortion ban into law

Alabama's Republican governor signed the most stringent abortion legislation in the nation Wednesday, May 15 to ban nearly all abortions in the state, with the only exception being when the woman's health is at serious risk. 

"To the bill's many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians' deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God," Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement.

The bill's sponsors want to give conservatives on the US Supreme Court a chance to gut abortion rights nationwide, but Democrats and abortion rights advocates criticised the bill as a slap in the face to women voters.

"It just completely disregards women and the value of women and their voice. We have once again silenced women on a very personal issue," said Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, a Birmingham Democrat.

The abortion ban is set to go into effect in six months but is expected to face a lawsuit to block it from halting abortion access.

Coleman-Madison said she hopes the measure awakens a "sleeping giant" of women voters in the state.

But Republican pollster Chris Kratzer noted that there is no congressional district and likely no legislative district with enough swing voters to put Republicans at serious risk in the state.

"The people who are outraged about this are not the people who are electing these guys, generally speaking, especially when we're talking about the primary," he said.

Further, Kratzer argued, there aren't enough potential swing voters and disenchanted Republicans to make the issue any kind of advantage for the lone Democrat elected to statewide office, US Sen. Doug Jones, who scored a surprise win in a 2017 special election.

Jones upset Republican Roy Moore in part on the strength of GOP-leaning college graduates abandoning the controversial Moore.
But Kratzer said that was more about Moore's long history of flouting federal courts as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and accusations that Moore sexually harassed teens when he was in his 30s — not Moore's hardline stance on abortion.

The legislation Alabama senators passed on Tuesday would make performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by 10 to 99 years or life in prison for the provider. The only exception would be when the woman's health is at serious risk. 

Women seeking or undergoing abortions wouldn't be punished.

Rep. Terri Collins, the bill's sponsor, said she believes the measure reflects the beliefs of the majority of the state electorate. The vote came after 59 percent of state voters in November agreed to write the anti-abortion language in the Alabama Constitution, saying the state recognises the rights of the "unborn."

Ivey acknowledged Wednesday that the measure may be unenforceable in the short term. Even supporters have said they expect it to be blocked by lower courts as they fight toward the Supreme Court.

"It's to address the issue that Roe. v. Wade was decided on. Is that baby in the womb a person?" Collins said.

Most of the Democratic candidates seeking their party's 2020 nomination to run for the White House condemned the Alabama law, calling it an attack on women's rights and vowing to fight to uphold legal access to abortion.

Abortion rights advocates vowed swift legal action.

"We haven't lost a case in Alabama yet and we don't plan to start now. We will see Governor Ivey in court," said Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast.

Evangelist Pat Robertson on his television show Wednesday said the Alabama law is "extreme" and opined it may not be the best one to bring to the US Supreme Court in the hopes of overturning Roe "because I think this one will lose." 

"God bless them they are trying to do something," Robertson said. 

Dr Yashica Robinson, who provides abortions in Huntsville, said her clinic similarly fielded calls from frightened patients.

"This is a really sad day for women in Alabama and all across the nation," she said. "It's like we have just taken three steps backwards as far as women's rights and being able to make decisions that are best for them and best for their families."

But Robinson said the bill is also having a galvanizing effect. With phone lines jammed, she said messages came streaming across their fax machine.

"We had letters coming across the fax just asking what they can do to help and telling us they are sending us their love and support our way," Robinson said.

Anti-abortion advocates are aware that any laws they pass are certain to be challenged. Courts this year have blocked a restrictive Kentucky law and another in Iowa passed last year.

But supporters of the Alabama ban said the right to life of the fetus transcended other rights, an idea they would like tested at the Supreme Court.

The highest US court, now with a majority of conservative justices after Republican President Donald Trump appointed two, could possibly overturn Roe v. Wade. That decision held that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment provides a fundamental right to privacy that protects a woman's right to abortion.

Roe v. Wade did allow states to place restrictions on the procedure from the time a fetus could viably survive outside the womb, except in cases in which a woman's health was otherwise at risk. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks. A full-term pregnancy typically is about 40 weeks.

Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio enacted statutes this year outlawing abortion after a doctor can detect an embryonic heartbeat.

Opponents call the "heartbeat" legislation a virtual ban because the embryonic cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks, before a woman may even be aware she is pregnant.