State Representative Terri Collins (R-Decatur) on Monday announced that she is filing legislation that will work to protect unborn life and attempt to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling by banning abortion procedures from taking place within Alabama except when the life of the mother is threatened by the pregnancy.
“Just last year, roughly 60 percent of voters across the state ratified a constitutional amendment declaring Alabama as a pro-life state, and this legislation is the next logical step in the fight to protect unborn life,” Collins said in a statement. “With liberal states like New York rushing to approve radical late-term and post-birth abortions, passage of this bill will reflect the conservative beliefs, principles, and desires of the citizens of Alabama while, at the same time, providing a vehicle to revisit the constitutionally-flawed Roe v. Wade decision.”
A press release explained that Collins’ bill bans abortions from taking place in Alabama within two weeks of conception, which is the earliest point that pregnancy can be medically determined and the same standard used by a state law allowing someone to be charged with murder if a pregnant woman’s child is killed or harmed during the commission of a crime.
The legislation, which will be filed on Tuesday when the legislature gavels back in from spring break, was drafted as a group effort by Collins, State Rep. Rich Wingo (R-Tuscaloosa) and the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition and its attorney, Eric Johnston.
Currently, 63 out of the 105 members of the Alabama House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors, and a companion bill sponsored by State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Range) is also being introduced.
The legislation only allows an exception for cases in which a mother’s life is threatened by pregnancy because, Collins advised, Judeo-Christian ethics recognize an innate right to self-defense.
Welcoming a legal challenge to the would-be-law, Collins said it is time for federal courts to revisit the issue of personhood and determine the point at which unborn life is entitled to constitutional protections.
She added that it is especially important to reconsider personhood because medical technology and the accumulated knowledge associated with unborn life has significantly improved and expanded since Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973.
“At one time the Supreme Court wrongly endorsed racial segregation with the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, but it was wise enough to later admit its error and overturn that precedent with Brown v. Board of Education,” Collins concluded. “It is time for this court to do the same with Roe v. Wade.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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