Alabama Senate Erupts Into Chaos as Republicans Try to Ram Through Vote on Abortion Ban

By Samantha Grasso  |  May 9, 2019 | 7:53pm
State News

Days after Georgia passed one of the most strict de facto abortion bans in the country, Alabama’s Republicans are following in hot pursuit, trying to pass a bill virtually banning abortion entirely. On Thursday, their attempts to make the bill even more restrictive than it already was caused an uproar on the Senate floor.

The bill, passed in Alabama’s House of Representatives last week, effectively bans abortion altogether with the exception of pregnancies that threaten the life of the mother. (Under the bill, performing abortions would be a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison.) The State Senate Judiciary Committee added an additional exception for pregnancies stemming from rape or incest on Wednesday, but then the Senate dropped that amendment on Thursday. That’s where things got heated.

Alabama Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton vocally objected to the amendment’s removal, expressing his dissent as Senate President and Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth pushed the change through on a seconds-long voice vote, when Singleton had previously asked for a roll call vote.

“He did not make a motion!” Singleton shouted over and over again.

“I know you all are for this bill, and I know this bill is going to pass. You’re going to get your way. But at least treat us fairly and do it the right way, that’s all that I ask, that’s all that my Democratic colleagues ask. That’s all that women in this state ask, both Democratic and Republican women,” Democratic Sen. Vivian Davis Figures said, taking the podium after Singleton.

All of Alabama’s Senate Republicans, by the way, are men.

The Senate has delayed the full vote on the bill until next week, AL.com reported. Not that the slight delay matters—it’s all just another effort for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

 
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