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Alabama governor signs nation's strictest abortion ban


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Alabama governor signs nation's strictest abortion ban

By Steve Gorman and Daniel Trotta

 

2019-05-15T151806Z_2_LYNXNPEF4E19M_RTROPTP_3_ALABAMA-GOVERNOR.JPG

FILE PHOTO: Alabama Lt Governor Kay Ivey speaks to the media after being sworn in as Alabama's new governor, after Alabama Governor Robert Bentley announced his resignation amid impeachment proceedings on accusations stemming from his relationship with a former aide, in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S., April 10, 2017. REUTERS/Marvin Gentry/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - Alabama's governor on Wednesday signed a bill to ban nearly all abortions in the state, even in cases of rape and incest, in political conservatives' latest challenge to the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy.

 

U.S. abortion-rights activists had already vowed to go court to block enforcement of the Alabama measure, the strictest anti-abortion law yet enacted by abortion foes aiming to provoke reconsideration of the Roe v. Wade ruling.

 

Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the measure a day after the Republican-controlled state Senate approved the ban and rejected a provision to allow abortions for women and girls impregnated by rape or incest.

 

"To the bill’s many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God," Ivey said in a statement. "To all Alabamians, I assure you that we will continue to follow the rule of law."

 

The law would take effect in six months.

 

Legislation to restrict abortion rights has been introduced this year in 16 states, four of whose governors have signed bills banning abortion if an embryonic heartbeat can be detected.

 

Planned Parenthood joined the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday in filing a legal challenge to Ohio's recent ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

 

The Alabama bill goes further, banning abortions at any time, unless the mother's health is in danger. Those performing abortions would be committing a felony, punishable by up to 99 years in prison. A woman who receives an abortion would not be held criminally liable.

 

2020 DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES BLAST MOVE

Most of the Democratic candidates seeking their party's 2020 nomination to run for the White House condemned the Alabama law, calling it an attack on women's rights and vowing to fight to uphold legal access to abortion.

 

"The idea that supposed leaders have passed a law that would criminalize a physician for assisting a woman on something that she, in consult with her physician, with her God, with her faith leader, has made the decision to do, that is her body that you would criminalize," U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California, one of the large field of hopefuls, said at a town hall on Wednesday morning in Nashua, New Hampshire.

 

Some on Twitter had called on their allies to mail coat hangers to Ivey, as a reminder of the illegal abortion practices common before it was made legal.

 

Christian television broadcaster Pat Robertson, a staunch critic of Roe v. Wade, said the Alabama law "has gone too far."

 

“It’s an extreme law, and they want to challenge Roe versus Wade. But my humble view is that this is not the case we want to bring to the Supreme Court because I think this one will lose,” Robertson said on his program, "The 700 Club."

 

Anti-abortion advocates are aware that any laws they pass are certain to be challenged. Courts this year have blocked a restrictive Kentucky law and another in Iowa passed last year.

 

But supporters of the Alabama ban said the right to life of the fetus transcended other rights, an idea they would like tested at the Supreme Court.

 

The high court, now with a majority of conservative justices after Republican President Donald Trump appointed two, could possibly overturn Roe v. Wade. That decision held that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment provides a fundamental right to privacy that protects a woman's right to abortion.

 

Roe v. Wade did allow states to place restrictions on the procedure from the time a fetus could viably survive outside the womb, except in cases in which a woman's health was otherwise at risk. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks. A full-term pregnancy typically is about 40 weeks.

 

Just this year, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio enacted statutes outlawing abortion after a doctor can detect an embryonic heartbeat.

 

Opponents call the "heartbeat" legislation a virtual ban because embryonic cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks, before a woman may even be aware she is pregnant.

 

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Daniel Trotta in New York; Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Ginger Gibson in Washington, and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-16
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After having lived for a short time in the back-water state of Alabama, this new abortion ban doesn't surprise me in the least. It is typical for one of the worst states for women's rights.

 

Alabama Republicans are all up in arms to protect a fetus but once that poor child is born, they could care less. Alabama ranks absolutely last in education and ranks 46th in health care.

 

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I’ll bet the republicans are thrilled lol the dems are going to have a field day with this I wonder if Donald is stupid enough to support it I hope so lol just disenfranchise over half the population 

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25 minutes ago, Silurian said:

After having lived for a short time in the back-water state of Alabama, this new abortion ban doesn't surprise me in the least. It is typical for one of the worst states for women's rights.

 

Alabama Republicans are all up in arms to protect a fetus but once that poor child is born, they could care less. Alabama ranks absolutely last in education and ranks 46th in health care.

 

Agree.  I for one am glad that Alabama is pushing such an extreme law.  Because it reveals what the anti-abortionist are really about.  If their entire position is that life starts at conception, then there should never be an exception, i.e., abortion is always wrong.  But to most Americans, forcing a woman who was raped to carry the baby of her rapist to term is just cruel and inhumane.  This should open the eyes of Americans who've been sitting on the sidelines about this issue.

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1 hour ago, webfact said:

approved the ban and rejected a provision to allow abortions for women and girls impregnated by rape or incest. 

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

and that every life is a sacred gift from God,

Can't add anymore to the above.

Says everything you need to know about these weirdo Right Wing Christian Scumbags.

Prolly also say the next school massacre was the Will of God too.

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3 hours ago, Silurian said:

Alabama ranks absolutely last in education and ranks 46th in health care.

 

I just stumbled onto an article about the Alabama prison system....a real disaster.  Just like the new abortion law, this is what happens when religious zealots run the state.  Sad!

 

[A two-year Justice Department investigation found conditions throughout the entire Alabama prison system are "unconstitutional," and an "excessive amount of violence, sexual abuse, and prisoner deaths" happen on a regular basis, making the state's prisons a deadly place to work as well.]

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alabama-prison-conditions-are-unconstitutional-investigation-finds-2019-05-15/

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I think the "it's her body" argument is nonsense. It's another body within her body. Or at some point it's another person inside her body. 

 

The real argument we should be having should center around the point at which it's still acceptable to terminate a foetus/child in the womb.

 

In my opinion - a day before the baby is due is too late - but I have no problem with the day after conception. 

 

I think most people would be fine with a logical and scientifically grounded cut-off date based around the development of the baby. 

 

The rape argument is also nonsense. It's an emotional hot-button around something that happens so infrequently as to be irrelevant. If a woman gets raped, I think "Plan B" pills should be a default option of post-rape treatment. No-one gets raped and then realizes they are pregnant 8 months in - so it goes back to the cut-off date.

 

There's 2 sets of extremists shouting so loud in this debate, common sense gets ignored...

1 - The people that think anything after conception is a sin

2 - The people that argue for abortion right up to the birth date

 

Sadly, like all things nowadays - it's the extremists that make the headlines & set the tone for the debate.

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7 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

Even Pat Robertson, the wacko televangelist does not support this law, stating Alabama "has gone too far" with "extreme" abortion law.

Nobody supports ‘this law’, it has only one purpose, to drive challenges to the Supreme Court in order to attempt a review of Roe v Wade.

 

The GOP has been taken over by right wing Christian zealots on a mission to get government control over women’s bodies.

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3 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

I think the "it's her body" argument is nonsense. It's another body within her body. Or at some point it's another person inside her body. 

 

The real argument we should be having should center around the point at which it's still acceptable to terminate a foetus/child in the womb.

 

In my opinion - a day before the baby is due is too late - but I have no problem with the day after conception. 

 

I think most people would be fine with a logical and scientifically grounded cut-off date based around the development of the baby. 

 

The rape argument is also nonsense. It's an emotional hot-button around something that happens so infrequently as to be irrelevant. If a woman gets raped, I think "Plan B" pills should be a default option of post-rape treatment. No-one gets raped and then realizes they are pregnant 8 months in - so it goes back to the cut-off date.

 

There's 2 sets of extremists shouting so loud in this debate, common sense gets ignored...

1 - The people that think anything after conception is a sin

2 - The people that argue for abortion right up to the birth date

 

Sadly, like all things nowadays - it's the extremists that make the headlines & set the tone for the debate.

The rape argument is also nonsense. It's an emotional hot-button around something that happens so infrequently as to be irrelevant.”

 

Yeh right!

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3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The rape argument is also nonsense. It's an emotional hot-button around something that happens so infrequently as to be irrelevant.”

 

Yeh right!

You don't set the rules by the exceptions. Rape/Incest accounts for 1.5% of all abortions. It does not impact the other 98.5%

 

So you set the rules by the majority and by all means have an exception for the remaining 1.5%. You do not set rules by the minority. 

 

The rape/incest argument is used only by people that want abortions in all cases. It's a total strawman.

 

So - I stick with my case - common sense rules based on a reasonable, scientifically founded cut-off date will protect all women and the unborn. As I mentioned - "Plan B" pill should be standard part of post-rape treatment. No woman is going to be raped and suddenly find out she's pregnant 8 months later, there's plenty of time post-rape to have an early term abortion.

 

So the use of "rape" as a beating stick in this argument, is simply to push the extremist view that all abortions for all reasons up to birth are OK.

 

 

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36 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

You don't set the rules by the exceptions.

 

I really don't know what you mean by this, because you go on to say:

 

 

40 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

by all means have an exception for the remaining 1.5%

 

So which is it?  Should there be a rape/incest clause or not?

 

 

36 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

The rape/incest argument is used only by people that want abortions in all cases. It's a total strawman.

 

I favor a rape/incest clause and yet I don't want "abortion in all cases", so your statement is wrong.

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1 hour ago, pedro01 said:

You don't set the rules by the exceptions. Rape/Incest accounts for 1.5% of all abortions. It does not impact the other 98.5%

 

So you set the rules by the majority and by all means have an exception for the remaining 1.5%. You do not set rules by the minority. 

 

The rape/incest argument is used only by people that want abortions in all cases. It's a total strawman.

 

So - I stick with my case - common sense rules based on a reasonable, scientifically founded cut-off date will protect all women and the unborn. As I mentioned - "Plan B" pill should be standard part of post-rape treatment. No woman is going to be raped and suddenly find out she's pregnant 8 months later, there's plenty of time post-rape to have an early term abortion.

 

So the use of "rape" as a beating stick in this argument, is simply to push the extremist view that all abortions for all reasons up to birth are OK.

 

 

The rape/incest argument is used only by people that want abortions in all cases. It's a total strawman.”

 

’Strawman’ you say.

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Mueller, She Wrote Podcast (@MuellerSheWrote)

5/11/19, 7:56 AM

How to stop abortion: Pregnancy can’t happen without sperm, so let’s have all teen boys fill up some vials then get sterilized, and if they want kids, they can get their sperm out of the bank and make it happen. Or are we not allowed to regulate men’s reproductive health? ????

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Adam Best (@adamcbest)

5/10/19, 3:35 AM

Conservatives on abortion: We want a ban!

Conservatives on gay marriage: We want a ban!

Conservatives on immigration: We want a ban!

Conservatives on Muslims: We want a ban!

Conservatives on trans military members: We want a ban!

Conservatives on guns: BANS DON'T WORK!!!

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5 hours ago, Tug said:

I’ll bet the republicans are thrilled lol the dems are going to have a field day with this I wonder if Donald is stupid enough to support it I hope so lol just disenfranchise over half the population 

During the campaign (and after), Trump pledged to appoint SC justices who would overturn R v W. Hence the big fight over Kavanaugh. Hence this absurd law. They *want* this to go to The SC. This is one big reason the Jesus People discarded every Jesus teaching to support this unrepentantly adulterous thrice married amoral lascivious glutenous greedy conman who’s only heard “god” uttered by women in porn films.

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Doctors who perform abortions can get up to 99 years in prison, far more than usual sentence for rapists.

Also, rapist has parental visitation rights!!!!!!

"But Alabama is one of seven states that doesn't have any kind of law on the books that protects a rape victim from having to negotiate child custody and adoption issues with her attacker." https://www.al.com/news/2018/01/alabama_law_allows_child_visit.html

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5 hours ago, Berkshire said:

Agree.  I for one am glad that Alabama is pushing such an extreme law.  Because it reveals what the anti-abortionist are really about.  If their entire position is that life starts at conception, then there should never be an exception, i.e., abortion is always wrong.  But to most Americans, forcing a woman who was raped to carry the baby of her rapist to term is just cruel and inhumane.  This should open the eyes of Americans who've been sitting on the sidelines about this issue.

If a women is raped then she can take a medicine with name levonorgestrel, she can take it up to 72 hours after being raped, unprotected sex or if the condom simply cracked.

 

killing humans is illegal and so should it be with humans inside a belly as well,the only exemptions for abortion if your life is in danger, period!

 

The left seems to enjoy killing babies, and arguing about the right to kill, insane people....

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7 hours ago, webfact said:

To the bill’s many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God,"

 

Where is this jesusy compassion after the child is born? Then it’s “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, slackers!” I’d respect these people’s “compassionate’” argument if it weren’t such an obvious attempt at controlling women, rather than helping babies.

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6 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

The American Taliban strikes again.

That’s exactly what I thought, apparently it’s not only ISIS and the Taliban and such groups that want to return to the dark ages.

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Guest Jerry787

this is even worst of being a bigot red neck, its simply stupidity.

women are the ONLY one who freely shall decide to engage in an abort or not.

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2 hours ago, onemorebeer said:

If a women is raped then she can take a medicine with name levonorgestrel, she can take it up to 72 hours after being raped, unprotected sex or if the condom simply cracked.

 

killing humans is illegal and so should it be with humans inside a belly as well,the only exemptions for abortion if your life is in danger, period!

 

The left seems to enjoy killing babies, and arguing about the right to kill, insane people....

Using this kind of extreme language is not helping your cause.  Most Americans--indeed most people in the west--do not believe abortion to be murder.  All you're doing is exposing the big divide between the GOP and the rest of America, the latter being the majority.  But by all means, keep at it.  I hope Trump comes out in support of the Alabama law. 

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The governor signed this into ‘law’ and immediately stated it was unenforceable, based on the fact that it is direct contravention of the laws of the land (I am guessing). Should there not be, or is there not, some law preventing an authority from issuing or proclaiming a ‘law’ that is known to be illegal? What if I were to declare murder legal and promulgate my declaration? I wonder what the reaction by authorities to that might be.

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1 hour ago, Sir Swagman said:

The governor signed this into ‘law’ and immediately stated it was unenforceable, based on the fact that it is direct contravention of the laws of the land (I am guessing). Should there not be, or is there not, some law preventing an authority from issuing or proclaiming a ‘law’ that is known to be illegal? What if I were to declare murder legal and promulgate my declaration? I wonder what the reaction by authorities to that might be.

It is claimed the purpose is to get the issue to be reviewed by the Supreme Court in order to overturn Wade v Roe.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade

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2 hours ago, Sir Swagman said:

The governor signed this into ‘law’ and immediately stated it was unenforceable, based on the fact that it is direct contravention of the laws of the land (I am guessing). Should there not be, or is there not, some law preventing an authority from issuing or proclaiming a ‘law’ that is known to be illegal?

 

Elected officials are generally indemnified from liability resulting from carrying out their duties as they see them.  The checks against elected officials are political (recall/impeach), censure (if they are an attorney they could be disbarred as Manafort has been) and electoral (vote the bastards out).  

 

 

2 hours ago, Jerry787 said:

this is even worst of being a bigot red neck, its simply stupidity.

 

It's put-your-foot-in-your-mouth-and-then-shoot-yourself-in-the-foot stupidity.  Rowe v. Wade has something like 80% favorable public support.  If this Alabama nonsense goes to the supreme court, then regardless of the outcome it will be a huge democratic electoral magnet in 2020.

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