MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama House of Representatives has advanced a bill that would make the performance of an abortion a crime, but with exceptions and with a clause specifically exempting the mother from any civil or criminal liability.
House Bill 314, also known as the “Human Life Protection Act,” passed 74 to 3 on Tuesday and will now move to the Senate for a vote.
“It shall be unlawful for any person to intentionally perform or attempt to perform an abortion except … if an attending physician licensed in Alabama determines that an abortion is necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother,” the legislation reads in part.
It also states that the definition of abortion does not include “a procedure or act to terminate the pregnancy of a woman with an ectopic pregnancy, nor does it include the procedure or act to terminate the pregnancy of a woman when the unborn child has a lethal anomaly.”
The performance of an abortion outside of the exceptions would be a class A felony. However, “[n]o woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed shall be criminally or civilly liable.”
“The heart of this bill is to confront a decision that was made by the courts in 1973 that said the baby in the womb is not a person,” main sponsor Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, outlined during debate on the legislation. “This bill addresses that one issue. Is that baby in the womb a person? I believe our law says it is.”
“In Tuscaloosa, Alabama there are more murders, more abortions than anywhere in the state of Alabama. 3,500 [on] average per year take place right on River Road,” also remarked Rep. Rich Wingo, R-Tuscaloosa, according to AL.com. “There are more abortions in Tuscaloosa than there are births. … It’s time for Alabama to lead for once.”
An amendment had been presented to expand the exemptions to also allow abortion in the cases of rape and incest, but it was voted down 72-26.
Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, told those gathered that “unwanted” children should be killed now before they have to be killed later for committing crimes.
“Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later,” he stated. “You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alabama has also already threatened to sue if the bill becomes law, characterizing abortion as a “medical decision.”
“We are disappointed that the Alabama House passed HB 314 despite the fact it would criminalize abortion and interfere with a woman’s personal, private medical decisions,” the organization said in a statement. “The people of Alabama are paying the bill for unconstitutional legislation and we hope that the Senate members will realize its detrimental impact and stop this bill from becoming law. Otherwise it will be challenged in federal court.”
As previously reported, Christians throughout history have been staunchly opposed to the murder of unborn children.
Even in 1872, preacher Thomas De Witt Talmage declared, “Herod’s massacre of the innocents was as nothing compared to that of millions and millions by what I shall call ante-natal murders. You may escape the grip of the law, because the existence of such life was not known by society, but I tell you that at last God will shove down on you the avalanche of his indignation, and though you may not have wielded knife or pistol in your deeds of darkness, yet, in the day when John Wilkes Booth and Antony Probst come to judgment, you will have on your brow the brand of murderer.”
Revelation 21:8 also warns that unless there is repentance, “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
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