Legislative Branch

"We’re really facing a moment of regression on women’s access to basic rights."

The Alabama Senate passed a bill which close to bans abortion in the state, making the procedure only available if a woman’s health is at serious risk. The punishment for doctors performing abortions is 99 years or life in prison. Senators rejected an exception for rape and incest. The bill has been written with such strong terms so that it will be challenged and pushed to the Supreme Court. Since the swearing in of Brett Kavanaugh the bench of judges has a conservative majority. The Supreme Court ruled that abortion was legal across the country in the landmark Roe v Wade case in 1975. Bills like this seek to overturn that ruling, to give states the right to decide their own abortion laws.

The bill, which will now go to the state governor's desk, would ban abortion in almost all cases.

Pro-choice activists said they will go to court over a controversial bill which was signed into Georgia law on May 7. The HB481 bill bans abortions where a foetal heartbeat is detectable, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Similar laws have been passed in Ohio, Kentucky and Mississippi this year. Alabama’s state senate has delayed a vote on a similar bill following disagreements on the senate floor.