The Alabama Senate on Tuesday passed the most restrictive abortion bill in the US, which places a near-total ban on the termination of pregnancy — even in cases of rape and incest — and could punish doctors who perform the procedure with life in prison.
The legislation passed by the Republican-led Senate has been sent to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey’s desk for signature into law and, if approved, is expected to trigger a legal battle that could reach the US Supreme Court.
Under the bill, performing an abortion is a crime that could land doctors who perform it in prison for 10 to 99 years. Abortions would only be legal if the life of the mother is in danger or the fetus has a fatal condition.
Photo: Reuters
The largest human rights defense organization in the US, the American Civil Liberties Union, promised to file a lawsuit to block the bill’s implementation, saying that the vote showed “how little they [conservative lawmakers] regard bodily autonomy.”
“This bill punishes victims of rape and incest by further taking away control over their own bodies and forcing them to give birth,” it added.
The National Organization for Women called the bill “unconstitutional” and said that its passage would “send women in the state back to the dark days of policymakers having control over their bodies, health and lives.”
Alabama Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth, who also presides over the state Senate, greeted the bill’s passage as a “strong step toward defending the rights of the unborn.”
“With liberal states approving radical late-term and post-birth abortions, Roe must be challenged, and I am proud that Alabama is leading the way,” he added.
The bill’s backers have expressly said that they want to take the case to the Supreme Court.
Now that the top US court has a conservative majority in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s election, some Republicans want to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that recognized women’s right to abortion.
“You just raped the state of Alabama yourself,” Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton said after senators eliminated an amendment seeking exceptions to the abortion ban.
“You’re saying to my daughter you don’t matter in the state of Alabama... It’s OK for men to rape you and you’re gonna have his baby if you get pregnant,” he added, his voice sometimes breaking with emotion.
Several conservative states are weighing harsh anti-abortion laws, intending some of them to be challenged and reach the Supreme Court.
However, states with liberal majorities have been seeking safeguards to the right to abortion in their own constitutions.
This year alone, 28 of the 50 US states have introduced more than 300 new rules to limit abortion, the Guttmacher Institute, which defends women’s rights, said in a report.
Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates said in a statement that it was “a dark day for women in Alabama and across this country.”
“Alabama politicians will forever live in infamy for this vote,” it said.
DISADVANTAGE: Erin O’Toole, who led the Conservatives during the election campaign in 2021, estimated that the interference cost his party as many as nine legislative seats Canada’s domestic spy agency on Monday concluded that China interfered in the past two elections, an official probe heard, the firmest evidence so far of suspected Chinese meddling in Canadian politics. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party won both the elections, held in 2019 and 2021. Under pressure from opposition lawmakers unhappy about media reports on China’s possible role, Trudeau set up a commission into foreign interference. The commission was shown a slide on Monday containing an extract of a briefing in February last year from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). “We know that the PRC [People’s Republic of China] clandestinely
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far