MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama lawmakers moved closer Thursday to writing anti-abortion language into their constitution, a measure that could put the state in a position to deny access to the procedure if current federal laws were to be overturned.
The bill would insert “right to life” wording into the Alabama Constitution, ensuring that the state “does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”
It passed the Senate 25-7 after a legislator tacked on a provision that specified how the state would handle potential legal challenges to the proposed constitutional amendment.
“This is my choice. It is my body,” said Birmingham Democratic Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, one of two female lawmakers who argued against the proposal. “Have some respect for the lives of women.”
Sen. Phil Williams, a Rainbow City Republican who spoke on behalf of the bill during what the GOP leadership dubbed “pro-life day,” countered that the bill would also go to a public vote in 2018.
“You don’t want the people of the state of Alabama to have the choice to vote on whether they believe in the right to life,” said Williams, who wore a lapel pin of the feet of a 10-week-old fetus.
The measure is largely symbolic unless the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion.
A Planned Parenthood representative said the bill’s language could effectively restrict access to abortion procedures in Alabama.
“We’re going to be here and fight this every step of the way,” said Vice President of Public Policy at Planned Parenthood Southeast Nikema Williams.
Alabama has a history of introducing laws relating to abortion that are later challenged and knocked down by the courts. Last year a federal judge blocked measures that would have banned clinics near schools and outlawed a common second trimester abortion procedure.
The House sponsor of the legislation, Montevallo Republican Rep. Matt Fridy, said he does not expect a legal challenge to the proposal.
“It provides that actions taken pursuant to it must be lawful and appropriate, and it sets forth how the Alabama Constitution, not the federal Constitution, is to be interpreted,” he wrote in a text message.
His proposal moves back to the House for more debate.
The Senate also passed two other “pro-life day” bills: one that bans assisted suicide and another that allows health care providers to refuse to preform services that “violate their conscience.”
The former will go to the House. The latter, which is now ready to be signed into law by the governor, also shields doctors from civil, criminal or administrative liabilities for declining to execute procedures.
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