By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Tuesday, the Alabama Citizens for Life, the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of St. Peter Claver, Fayette Pro-Life, the Christian Coalition, Tuscaloosa Pro-Life, St. Clair Save a Life, and other pro-Life groups from all over the state rallied in front of the Capital for the 2013 Pro-Life Legislative Day. Nearly 300 Pro-Life activists attended the rally. The Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House, and other legislative leaders all spoke at the rally and assured the Pro-Life forces that the state would do everything in its power to limit abortions in this state.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R) told the crowd that he supported and would sign the Women’s Health and Safety Act if the legislature would send him the bill and urged the Pro-Life activists to contact their State Senators and tell them to pass the legislation. The Health and Safety Act would hold Alabama abortion clinics to the same regulatory standards as other out patient surgery centers.
Gov. Bentley said, “We need to always remember it is our duty to protect those innocents lives and that is something that just hasn’t been done.” Bentley lamented the over 50 million American lives lost since abortion was made legal by the controversial Roe versus Wade decision in 1973 that stripped the states of their rights to prohibit abortions.
Bentley said that he was extremely grateful to two women who chose life and opted not to abort their babies and instead gave them up for adoption. Those two baby boys were adopted by the Bentley’s and have given the state’s first couple several of their grandchildren.
Alabama Citizens for Life Legislative Director Cheryl Ciamarra said that it was great for the state to have a strong Pro-Life Governor in Doctor Robert Bentley.
Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey (R) told the Pro-Life activists, “Prior to 2010 your bills got introduced but they never saw the light of day in committee. We understand Alabama values and Pro-Life is high on those list of Alabama values.”
Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard (R) from Auburn said that before the people of Alabama gave Republicans the majority in both Houses of the Legislature no Pro-Life legislation was ever passed. Hubbard said the state passed the first Pro-Life bill ever last year, “And we are just getting started!”
Afterwards Hubbard said on Faceboook, “Proud to speak at today’s Pro-Life Rally at the Capitol. I am even more proud of the Alabama House Republican Caucus’s success in passing pro-life legislation as a part of our 2013 legislative agenda. We dare defend our right to life.”
Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin (R) from Indian Springs urged the gathered Pro-Life activists to contact their state Senators and ask that they support her House Bill 57, the Women’s Health and Safety Act. McClurkin said that if abortion is legal in Alabama that it should be at least performed in a safe environment for those women who choose abortions. HB 57 has already passed the House and is in the Senate.
Rep. Lynn Greer (R) from Lauderdale County urged the Pro-Life activists to talk to their state Senators about acting on the Religious Liberties Act. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Greer and has passed in the Alabama House but is awaiting action by the Senate. Greer said that whether you run a business in Alabama as an LLC, S-Corp, or partnership his bill would make sure that you did not give up your individual rights not to pay for a healthcare plan that pays for birth control pills or abortion inducing drugs that you object to because of your religious beliefs. The bill would not apply to businesses with more than 11 stockholders or partners.
Senator Shadrack McGill (R) from Jackson County said that you can be fined $200,000 for destroying a bald eagle egg but there is no punishment for killing a human fetus. McGill said that that is a disgrace and said that we needed to stop, “this murderous process.” McGill said, “God knew us before he placed us in our mother’s womb.”
Sen. McGill held up a paid of scissors that the doctor gave him to cut his last child’s umbilical cord. McGill said that some doctors use that same instrument to cuts off baby’s arms, legs, and even their heads to kill them before they can be born. “I can not imagine anything more horrendous. May God grants us a day when we see abortion no more.”
McGill’s daughters both came to the podium and said, “I am grateful my Mommy didn’t kill me.” McGill is the sponsor of Senate Bill 105.
Rep. Kerry Rich (R) from Albertville told the Pro-Life crowd. “I want you to know that you do have an impact.” Rich said that the legislature passed it’s first pro-Life bill just last year and there would be many more to come. “I can’t think of anything that is more wrong, more sinful, or more evil,” than abortion. Rich said that his HB 360, the Hear the Heartbeat Act, would require that abortionists must ask mothers if they would like to hear the heart beat of their baby before it is killed and would angle the sonogram image of the baby so that the mother can see the child if they choose to look.
Cheryl Ciamarra said that when women see that image, “Reality will break through all the lies” that are being told by the abortion industry.
Rep. April Weaver (R) from Shelby County urged the crowd to ask their legislators to support her HB 354, the Healthcare Provider Protection Act. Weaver said that her bill would protect healthcare workers from having to participate in any medical procedure that they object to on moral grounds like euthanasia. Weaver said that Sen. Cam Ward (R) from Alabaster is carrying the bill in the Senate. Rep. Weaver is the only nurse in the Alabama legislature.
Dr. Randy Brinson with the Christian Coalition said that in all the years that he practiced medicine that he has never seen a woman that came to his office and said ‘I am glad I had an abortion’ but he has seen hundreds and thousands that the regret abortion.
Brinson said that abortion has deprived millions of men the privilege of fatherhood, has left women with profound psychological problems, and has killed millions of children.
