Alabama passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country Tuesday night, sending to the governor’s desk legislation that makes performing an abortion a felony and that provides no exemptions for rape or incest.
According to the Associated Press, Gov. Kay Ivey (R) has long been anti-abortion, though she has not yet said if she’ll sign the bill. If she vetoes, the statehouse likely has enough votes to overturn it.
Should it become law, the abortion ban would punish doctors who perform the procedure with up to 99 years or life in prison.
Democrats, massively outnumbered in the Alabama statehouse, railed against the legislation and tried for a Hail Mary amendment to add in exemptions for rape or incest victims. Republicans shot it down.
Protesters, many dressed like characters from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” swarmed the chambers.
Though a lawsuit is inevitable, Alabaman conservatives are joining the nationwide movement to lob a state’s abortion ban into the Supreme Court, where pro-life activists believe that a favorable justice makeup has set the stage for overturning or defanging Roe v. Wade.
Read TPM’s deep dive of the heartbeat abortion bans, the linchpin of the movement, here.
