By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Wednesday, April 20, the Alabama Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act will receive a public hearing in the House Health Committee. HB376 was sponsored by state Representative Mack Butler (R-Rainbow City).
A Senate version of the same bill (SB263) was sponsored by State Senator Phil Williams (R-Rainbow City) and is also having a public hearing on Wednesday, this in the Senate Health Committee.
Dismemberment abortions involve introducing a sharp instrument into the womb to grasp and pull the unborn child out, piece by piece. The child is cut up alive during this process and dies of bleeding out during the dismemberment process.
President of Alabama Citizens For Life, Bill Klein said in a statement, “Alabama children should be protected by law from being torn limb from limb. No human should die this way in a civilized society. It shows a total disrespect for the sanctity of human life.”
National Right to Life’s Board Director from Alabama, Cheryl Ciamarra said, “We are hopeful Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives Mike Hubbard will allow a Pro-Life day with a number of these measures as he has in the past. Now is the time when this type of common sense legislation to go forward.”
Last week the House Health committee approved a bill by state Representative Ed Henry (R-Hartselle), HB300, that would define a person under Alabama law as beginning at conception thus entitling the unborn child to the same rights and protection that born children receive.
The Pro-Life group, Personhood Alabama said in a statement, “HB300 would: “Propos[e] an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, providing that the term “persons” as used in the Code of Alabama 1975, shall include all humans from the moment of fertilization.” Upon passage, such an amendment would go on the November ballot’
On Monday, April 18 Planned Parenthood Southeast condemned what it called, “Extreme legislation introduced by politicians in the Alabama legislature that would end access to safe and legal abortion in the state, restrict access to a range of women’s health care, prohibit the use of in vitro fertilization services, and limit access to certain birth control methods.”
Planned Parenthood SE VP of Public Policy Nikema Williams said, “Once again, politicians are trying to interfere in the private medical decisions of Alabama women. This so-called ‘personhood’ bill is just another thinly veiled attempt by state politicians to roll back a woman’s reproductive rights, restrict access to health care and end access to safe, legal access to abortion. This legislation would ban all abortions, including in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the health of the mother, and could outlaw many forms of birth control, including IUDs and emergency contraception.”
Williams said, “Voters have strongly rejected these measures in the past, even in the most conservative states like Mississippi and North Dakota. Planned Parenthood will continue to do everything in our power to protect our women’s access to safe, legal abortion.”
Personhood Alabama wrote in their statement, “It’s always good to be on the opposite side of Planned Parenthood when it comes to legislation! Who does Planned Parenthood think they are anyway? They’ve denied millions of babies life since Roe v. Wade, they’ve treated women horribly (and lied to them over and over again), they’ve failed to report rape in Alabama, they’ve cut out baby hearts, laughed about eyeballs, sold aborted babies, killed more little women (and men) than they’ve ever helped, and they’re in serious legal trouble. It comes as no surprise that they are opposing the fact that life begins at fertilization (without actually contesting that fact). Since when was acknowledging life’s beginning at the moment of fertilization a denial of healthcare anyway?”
While an overwhelming number of legislator proudly campaign on their Pro-Life credentials this year’s Pro-Life bills are running out of time in this legislative session.
Pro-Life Alabama is urging concerned citizen to Contact House Rules Committee Chairman Mac McCutcheon (R-Capshaw) and Speaker Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) to ask that pro-life bills be placed on the Special Order calendar for a vote by the full House of Representatives.
