On May 16, 2019, the Governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey signed an anti-abortion bill under
which a woman getting an abortion will not be held criminally liable under the bill, but
doctors performing the procedure would face up to 99 years in prison. This bill does not
make an exception for unplanned pregnancies like rape and incest and will go into effect in
2020. The Alabama Bill was passed by a majority vote in the Alabama Senate, overturning
the 1973 Roe v Wade case successfully which legalised abortion in 50 states. Is this how the
21st century was supposed to look like? How is the current time worse than the 1970s?
The signing of this bill is indeed considered controversial. With 18 men on the board
supporting the bill, where do the opinions of the 4 women on the same board go? There are
some states in the United States which make exceptions for rape and incest. There is also a
policy of “Heartbeat Bills” followed where the woman is allowed to go through the process
of abortion only until a heartbeat is detected i.e. within 6 weeks of pregnancy. These policies
are not the ideal ones, but still better than the conditions of the Alabama bill. However, the
state seems to go against all those policies and fail the world.
As soon as the bill was signed, the women all across the world expressed disdain or the said
policy. This bill not only forces women to keep a child borne out of compromising situations,
but also takes away their right to choose. Women Rights are Human Rights, they say. But is
this really the way to prove it? Approximately, 78% of the pregnancies are unplanned. With
policies like Alabama, these women are forced to go through the process of abortion through
unsafe means. This puts their life at risk and further reducing their chances to conceive a
child in the future. The Alabama Bill is also seen as a policy which gives right to rapists to
have a family and it makes us question the Governor’s thought process while she signed the
bill. After the Roe v Wade case in 1973, the crime rates reduced drastically which was seen
as a result of legalising abortion. However, now that the judgement has been overturned, we
can only hope that the crime rate in the state and the country as a whole stay minimal.
There are numerous sides to this argument. While the women argue that the bill is not fair to
them, the Senators argue that every life is precious and is a gift from God. The bill was
signed by Gov. Kay Ivey who is a woman herself and one can only assume that she thought
this action through. The anti-abortion bill would mean an increase in the birth rate and hence,
manpower in the coming years. Like India, US could have the largest youth window at this
rate which may mean an increase in the GDP or vice versa, depending on how the country
handles it. This bill was mainly passed to overturn the Roe v Wade case judgement which
would further give the States to do what is best for them. But, what about what’s best for
women who make up for approximately 52% of the Alabama population?
There is a lot of optimism that people hold, hoping to challenge the bill in Supreme Court in
the coming 6 months. There is absolutely no excuse to take away women’s right to choose
what they want to do with their body. The Alabama State needs more women to run for the
Office. Since they already dominate the population in numbers, what is stopping them from
dominating the office and putting a stop to this atrocity, once and for all?