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U.S. NEWS Thursday 16 May 2019

Alabama governor signs near-total abortion ban into law

Continued fron Front 30s — not Moore’s hardline in Alabama yet and we
stance on abortion. don’t plan to start now. We
“It just completely disre- The legislation Alabama will see Governor Ivey in
gards women and the senators passed Tuesday court,” said Staci Fox, presi-
value of women and their would make performing an dent and CEO of Planned
voice. We have once abortion at any stage of Parenthood Southeast.
again silenced women on pregnancy a felony pun- One mile from the Ala-
a very personal issue,” said ishable by 10 to 99 years bama Statehouse — down
Sen. Linda Coleman-Mad- or life in prison for the pro- the street from the Gover-
ison, a Birmingham Demo- vider. The only exception nor’s Mansion — sits Mont-
crat. would be when the wom- gomery’s only abortion
Coleman-Madison said she an’s health is at serious risk. clinic, one of three perform-
hopes the measure awak- Women seeking or under- ing abortions in the state.
ens a “sleeping giant” of going abortions wouldn’t Because of its location, the
women voters in the state. be punished. clinic sees a stream of pa-
But Republican pollster Rep. Terri Collins, the bill’s tients from Mississippi and
Chris Kratzer noted that sponsor, said she believes the Florida Panhandle be- This photograph released by the state shows Alabama Gov.
Kay Ivey signing a bill that virtually outlaws abortion in the state
there is no congressional the measure reflects the cause other clinics have on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, in Montgomery, Ala.
district and likely no legis- beliefs of the majority of the closed.q Associated Press
lative district with enough state electorate. Ivey ac-
swing voters to put Repub- knowledged Wednesday
licans at serious risk in the that the measure may be
state. unenforceable in the short
“The people who are out- term. The law is set to go
raged about this are not into effect six months after
the people who are elect- being signed, but support-
ing these guys, generally ers expect it to be blocked
speaking, especially when by lower courts as they fight
we’re talking about the pri- toward the Supreme Court.
mary,” he said. “The sponsors of this bill be-
Further, Kratzer argued, lieve that it is time, once
there aren’t enough po- again, for the U.S. Supreme
tential swing voters and Court to revisit this impor-
disenchanted Republicans tant matter, and they be-
to make the issue any kind lieve this act may bring
of advantage for the lone about the best opportunity
Democrat elected to state- for this to occur,” Ivey said.
wide office, U.S. Sen. Doug Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio
Jones, who scored a sur- and Georgia recently have
prise win in a 2017 special approved bans on abor-
election. tion once a fetal heartbeat
Jones upset Republican is detected, which can
Roy Moore in part on the occur in about the sixth
strength of GOP-leaning week of pregnancy. The
college graduates aban- Alabama bill goes further
doning the controversial by seeking to ban abortion
Moore. But Kratzer said that outright.
was more about Moore’s Abortion rights advocates
long history of flouting fed- vowed swift legal action.
eral courts as chief justice “We vowed to fight this
of the Alabama Supreme dangerous abortion ban
Court and accusations that every step of the way and
Moore sexually harassed we meant what we said.
teens when he was in his We haven’t lost a case