Medical Specialties and Services
The legislation prohibits abortion in the state unless a pregnancy poses a risk to the mother's life. A legal challenge to the bill is virtually certain.
Doctors and midwives called for relaxation of law, but new advice was suddenly withdrawn.
Harassment of people outside abortion clinics is a national problem and needs a national solution, Marie Stopes managing director Richard Bentley writes.
The move comes after NHS chiefs spoke of the pressure on hospital beds.
Here's what you need to know.
"This is not a drill. This is not a warning. This is a real public health crisis”
US District Judge Carlton Reeves struck down a law that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
"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.