What You Need To Know About Alabama's Vote To Ban Abortion

By Christianna Silva


White, male lawmakers in Alabama voted to effectively outlaw abortion in the state on Tuesday, May 14.


According to Alabama Residence Bill 314, the only exception in which abortion or attempted abortion can be permitted in the state is if the pregnancy poses a “serious health risk” to the pregnant person. It makes no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, despite a slew of Democratic amendments calling for it.


All 25 legislators who voted in favor of the measure were white, male Republican senators, according to a breakdown of votes from the Guardian. Just three ladies cast votes on the bill, the Washington Post reported, and all amendments introduced by the state’s female senators were dismissed. (Alabama’s legislature is just 15 percent female, the sixth-lowest proportion in the country.)


While the bill will not take effect “anytime in the near future,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, its legalization means a physician would be charged with a Class A felony and face up to 99 years in prison if they perform a completed abortion for a patient.


The bill stipulates that “a woman who receives an abortion will not be contained criminally culpable or civilly liable for procuring the abortion,” however such restrictions would still disproportionately affect poor women of color, according to the Guttmacher Institute. They are more likely to seek abortions and far less likely to have the resources to travel out of state to obtain an abortion. Alabama's choice to restrict a doctor’s ability to perform the service would impact marginalized people’s health the most.


This glaring discrepancy couldn’t have been more obvious throughout the debate in the state legislature any time Republican State Sen. Clyde Chambliss mentioned the law wouldn’t affect girls unless they “are known” to be pregnant, according to the Post.


“I guess that’s a usual male answer,” Democratic State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison mentioned. “You don’t know what you don’t know because you’ve never been pregnant. And herein is the problem: You can’t get pregnant. ... You don’t know what it’s like to be pregnant.”


That was the feeling among Democratic in our elected representatives on Tuesday: People who hadn’t been pregnant and wouldn’t require an abortion were voting on a person’s right to do so.


"You don’t have to raise that child. You don’t have to carry that child. You don’t have to supply for that child,” Democratic State Sen. Vivian Davis Figures mentioned throughout the debate, according to VICE News. “You don’t have to do anything for that child, however however you wish to prepare the decision for that woman.”


Alabama is the 16th state this year to introduce abortion restrictions, Reuters reported, nevertheless this bill is by far the strictest in the country. It sets up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the landmark supreme court case that recognized the constitutional right to an abortion. Some people worry that if a similar case is brought up to the current Republican-held Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade would be overturned.


Activists are fighting to create ensure that doesn’t happen. The ACLU of Alabama, the National ACLU and the Suggested Parenthood Foundation of America announced on Tuesday that they are filing a lawsuit to stop the ban. And progressive lawmakers in Alabama are fighting to increase the power of our lawmakers to make sure expenses like this aren’t passed in the future.


“Now, we understand the ladies in this chamber are a minority,” Coleman-Madison mentioned on the Senate floor on Tuesday, “but one of those days that’s going to change.”