Governor: New Abortion Law Shows Alabama Values Sanctity of Life

Governor: New Abortion Law Shows Alabama Values Sanctity of Life
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signs a bill that virtually outlaws abortion in the state on May 15, 2019. (Hal Yeager/Alabama Governor's Office via AP)
Mimi Nguyen Ly
5/21/2019
Updated:
5/21/2019

Alabama’s governor said that the new abortion bill she recently signed into law reflects the value residents place on the sanctity of life.

Gov. Kay Ivey was asked about the new law after a news conference about the state tourism industry on May 20.

“The Legislature has spoken,” Ivey said. “It underscores the sanctity of life the people of Alabama value so highly.”

When asked by reporters if she saw the measure impacting the state’s tourism or business sectors, she said she didn’t expect any fallout from the state’s return to pro-life laws.

Ivey brushed off the media’s suggestion that the protesters that have been gathering could do any possible harm to tourism and efforts to woo new industry and business to Alabama.

Protesters calling for abortion to be legalized hold a rally on the Alabama Capitol steps in Montgomery, Ala., on May 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Protesters calling for abortion to be legalized hold a rally on the Alabama Capitol steps in Montgomery, Ala., on May 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

“Alabama has a lot of different variety of things to visit and enjoy, and our visitors will continue to come,” Ivey said.

On May 19, marchers took to the streets in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville to protest the abortion ban that Ivey signed. Crowds chanted “my body, my choice!” and “vote them out!”

They said on May 20 that the measures have mobilized those who call for legalized abortion, and they say they are digging in for a legal and political fight.

The Republican governor last week approved a bill that outlaws all abortions except in cases when the pregnancy puts the prospective mother’s life is at risk.

While it doesn’t penalize a woman for undergoing an abortion, it makes it a felony to perform it, imposing penalties of 10 to 99 years in prison. The law provides no exception for rape and incest.

The law does not take effect for six months and legal challenges are expected to attempt to block the law in the courts.

Alabama is one of many more conservative states seeking to mount new legal challenges to Roe v. Wade (pdf)—the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

Governors in Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Georgia have approved bills on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.

Challenge to Roe v. Wade

The Alabama law takes aim at the core issue of whether an unborn child can be considered a person, as discussed in Roe v. Wade.

Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur), who sponsored the bill, had said the goal was to pass the bill in a form that would be able to challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling in the strongest way.

The Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973 legalized abortion nationwide by prohibiting states from banning abortions prior to when the fetus is deemed “viable"—that is, potentially able to live outside its mother’s womb.

In Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court said that if unborn children are persons, then they have the right to life. The decision concluded that unborn children are not persons, and acknowledged that the case to prohibit states from banning abortions would “collapse” if “the fetus is a person,” because then its “right to life would then be guaranteed” by the Constitution.

According to AL.com, Collins said that if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states could then later decide what exceptions to allow—such as incest or rape.

Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville), who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said that all unborn children deserve protection from the law, AL.com reported.

Sen. Clyde Chambliss speaks as debate on HB314 is held in the senate chamber in the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday May 14, 2019. (Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP)
Sen. Clyde Chambliss speaks as debate on HB314 is held in the senate chamber in the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday May 14, 2019. (Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP)
“Human life has rights, and when someone takes those rights, that’s when we as government have to step in,” Chambliss said, the Guardian reported. “When God creates that life, that miracle of life inside the woman’s womb, it’s not our place as humans to extinguish that life. That’s what I believe.”

Chambliss was asked about the legal costs the state would incur if the bill is challenged in court.

“Life is a gift of our Creator and we must do everything that we can to protect life,” he responded, according to AL.com. “And if it is a couple of million dollars, that is a small, small price for those lives.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From NTD.com