MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that criminalizes doctors that don’t provide reasonable care for babies born alive during abortion procedures.
Rep. Ginny Shaver (R-Leesburg) sponsored the legislation. Shaver has long been dedicated to the anti-infanticide cause; 2021 is the third year in a row she has introduced legislation similar to what passed the House on Thursday.
Doctors convicted of not providing care to born-alive babies would be punished by 20 years in prison and a minimum fine 0f $100,000 under the bill.
The vote in the House was 76-12 with 10 members abstaining. Rep. Dexter Grimsley (D-Newville) joined the Republican majority in voting for the legislation.
Rep. Laura Hall (D-Huntsville) expressed disbelief to Shaver that a doctor would not provide care to a baby born alive.
“You don’t think that is happening today?” she asked Shaver.
Shaver responded that, while serving as a counselor in a crisis pregnancy center, a woman told her about an experience in which she was getting an abortion and birthed a child that was alive, but the baby was not given life-sustaining care by the doctor performing the procedure.
Other members of the minority, including Rep. Neil Rafferty (D-Birmingham), expressed a belief that the actions Shaver is attempting to make illegal are already prevented by both state and federal law.
Shaver noted that she found abortion providers generally untrustworthy, and in her experience, they often did not keep adequate records. She maintained the specificity of her bill had value to the state.
Shaver welcomed an amendment first introduced in the House Judiciary Committee that made sure the life of the mother would be protected and prioritized by doctors providing abortions.
Shaver has noted in past comments, “There is no such thing as post-birth abortion. Think about those three words. That’s infanticide.”
The Alabama Senate is set to receive the bill when the legislature returns in the last week of March.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
