MONTGOMERY, Ala. — On the second day of the Alabama Legislature’s Special Session, Rep. Jack Williams (R-Vestavia Hills) and Sen. Bill Hightower (R-Mobile) introduced identical bills Monday that would make it a Class B felony to offer or accept money for aborted babies or parts of aborted babies.
A Class B felony is punishable by 2-20 years in prison.
The crime the lawmakers seek to incorporate into the state’s criminal code is already punishable under Federal law, leading some to ask Williams and Hightower why such a law was necessary. Williams believes that the law is needed for “The same reason we have a law against bank robbery, human trafficking and murder. Those are federal offenses as well. The feds can’t be everywhere.”
Pro-life legislators at the state and federal level have sought action after numerous leaked videos from the abortion provider Planned Parenthood showed workers attempting to sell aborted baby tissue. Groups around the country, including in Birmingham, have staged protests at Planned Parenthood facilities to show disgust with their practices.
“From what I’ve been able to determine, the videos have really pricked the conscience of the nation, regardless of how people feel about abortion,” Rep Williams said.
Every Republican member of Alabama’s Congressional House Delegation supported the defunding of Planned Parenthood, but Senate Democrats procedurally blocked the bill from passing in the Senate. Both Alabama Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions voted in favor of defunding.
Planned Parenthood costs every federal taxpayer in Alabama $1.70 per year adding up to a tax burden of almost $3.5 million from Alabamians alone. The abortion clinic gets $541 million in Department of Health and Human Services funding and grants every year,
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