Alabama May Ban Abortion Before Woman Knows She Is Pregnant

If this proposal doesn't either inflict "[t]he detriment that the State would impose upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice [abortion] altogether" (Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), wiki, text) or trigger the viability provision of Roe, or both, I don't know what would.

From Lauren Rankin at TPM:

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Alabama isn’t exactly known for its pro-choice credentials. The same legislature banned abortion at 20 weeks just two years ago and faces pending litigation over current state restrictions on abortion. Now, Alabama lawmakers have gone even further with the proposed HB490 bill, or the “Fetal Heartbeat Act,” which would “make it unlawful for a physician to perform an abortion on a pregnant woman after a heartbeat has been detected.”

In addition to the Fetal Heartbeat Act, Alabama lawmakers are also considering three more measures: a bill that would expand the current waiting period for an abortion from 24 hours to 48 hours; a bill that would make it significantly more difficult for a minor to obtain an abortion; and a bill that would prohibit abortions based on [fetal] anomalies unless the pregnant person “is made aware of the option of perinatal hospice services.”

Simply put, HB490 would ban abortions as early as six weeks, a point at which many women don’t even know they’re pregnant. Of the bill’s 27 cosponsors, 22 are men.

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(Bolds mine. - SB)

Let's see. If you don't know you're pregnant, you don't know you need an abortion. But if you know you're pregnant, it's too late to obtain a legal abortion. Yeah, right; I'm sure that's what the Supreme Court intended in Roe. [/irony]

Put aside for the moment the fact that the Alabama Legislature is a scrotum... isn't that the word for a bag of male nuts?... and consider what they are trying to do. There is no explanation for this provision other than that it is an attempt to ban abortion altogether. If state legislatures can do that, it's a GOP right‑wing nut‑job's wet dream. I just hope there is no fertile woman nearby when he dreams it...