Like many of my fellow Alabamians, I was angered and disappointed this week when the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill banning abortions from being performed after 20 weeks, which President Trump has promised to sign if it arrives on his desk.
For those who missed the votes of Alabama’s two U.S. senators, Republican Richard Shelby supported the legislation while Democrat Doug Jones voted against it.
By the 20-week point of gestation, an unborn child is kicking and sucking its thumb, its taste buds have developed, their brains already have roughly a billion nerve cells in each hemisphere, and they can even develop the hiccups. To argue that life is not present at this point clearly ignores reality, and, moreover, shows a cavalier disregard for God’s most precious handiwork.
A Pew Research Study tracking views on a variety of social issues ranked Alabama among the top three most pro-life states in the nation, and the vast majority of our citizens have a moral compass that points toward the sanctity of unborn life. Certainly most citizens of our state share my displeasure at the bill’s failure.
So while Congress has abandoned its attempt to protect the most defenseless and innocent among us, I am happy to report that the Alabama Legislature, led by strong Republican majorities in both chambers, has worked for the past several years to successfully implement strong, pro-life measures on the state level.
In November, for example, voters at the polls will have the chance to voice their opinion on a constitutional amendment declaring Alabama a “pro-life state,” which, if ratified, will put us in position to take immediate action once the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision is overturned.
But other state laws and protections have already been placed on our books.
The Republican-led Legislature successfully extended the waiting period for abortions from 24 to 48 hours so more informed decisions may be made, and we toughened the requirements for parental consent.
Outraged by a surreptitiously recorded video that showed representatives of Planned Parenthood casually discussing the sale of unborn infant body parts as if they were a publicly traded commodity, the Legislature enacted the Unborn Infants’ Dignity of Life Act, which criminalizes such transactions in Alabama.
Recognizing that religious freedoms and decisions of conscience must be protected, the Legislature has also enacted a measure that protects doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel from being forced to perform abortions and other controversial procedures that violate their sincerely-held moral beliefs
In order to promote life, encourage adoption, and help pair potential parents with children, the Legislature created a special income tax credit for intrastate adoptions, and we firmly secured the religious freedoms of faith-based adoption and foster placement agencies.
Unfortunately, federal judges driven by a liberal political philosophy and an activist approach to the U.S. Constitution have nullified a handful of the much-needed, commonsense protections that the Legislature passed into law.
Among those was the Women’s Health and Safety Act, which was intended to ensure that abortions are conducted in the safest environment and conditions possible, a law banning barbaric dismemberment abortions, and a rational and reasonable measure that prohibited abortion clinics from operating within 2,000 feet of a school.
It is my hope that once President Trump and future conservatives are able to reshape the federal judiciary into one that embraces a strict interpretation of the Constitution and rejects arguments rooted in discredited liberal dogma, we may revisit some of these bills and once again place them in the Alabama Code, where they belong.
There is no doubt that partisan bickering, delaying tactics, and Democrat opposition to President Trump’s “Make American Great Again” agenda has rendered the U.S. Congress often dysfunctional and sometimes unable to accomplish even its most basic duties, but rest assured that the Alabama Legislature will continue standing ready to fill the breech and pick up the mantle, especially with regards to such important and critical life-saving issues as protecting the unborn.
House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter represents House District 24, which is comprised of portions of DeKalb County.
