Thursday during a conference call with reporters, Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) expressed his disappointment in the abortion law that was signed by Gov. Kay Ivey a day earlier.
Jones blamed gerrymandering in part for the extreme nature of the bill and argued its passage was going to cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
“I am and have expressed before – I am deeply disappointed with the extremely disappointed with the extreme bill the Alabama Senate and House passed and was signed into law regarding the almost-complete ban on abortions,” Jones said.
“I think this bill frankly is shameful,” he continued. “It is callous. I have said that. I stand by those remarks. We need to call this bill what it is, and even call it what Pat Robertson said it is: extreme. It is the most extreme abortion ban in the country. And it is, in my view a product of what happens when you gerrymander political districts, so people don’t have to be accountable but to the extreme sides of an issue. This bill uses rape victims and victims of incest of all ages, even minors as political pawns.”
“What this bill’s sponsors hope will be an invitation to a legal challenge is going to cost taxpayers millions of dollars,” he said. “The only people who benefit will be lawyers. The bill is unconstitutional as it stands right now, and I believe irresponsible. The most significant thing to me, though is it is a complete shame that the most extreme voices on both sides of such a sensitive issue have been the loudest during this debate. I just don’t think that is representative of what most people in Alabama think or what they want from their government. I think we have to have more serious discussions about these issues, issues that we can try to find common ground on and not just go to our corners. I really hope that our state legislators stop playing politics and start focusing on policies that absolutely strengthen families. As a society, we have to do much more for women. We have to do much more for children. We have to do much more for others. We have to do so much more in our health care space in general in the state of Alabama. And that is being overlooked and overshadowed by what has happened in the last couple of weeks.”
Jones said he had been working on expanding health care options for his constituents and cited his Healthy Mom Act, which has an intended purpose of helping expectant mothers. According to Jones, it would make pregnancy a “qualifying life event,” which is sometimes required to sign up for health insurance.
“Those are the kinds of things we need to be trying to do in this state and in this country to help the health care of all people,” Jones said.
The junior Alabama senator also made a case for the expansion of Medicaid as a means to create better health outcomes.
“I think we ought to be focusing in Alabama on a way we can come together to reduce the number of abortions in the state,” Jones added. “And that is a variety of things including better health outcomes. We are ignoring health and better health in Alabama. Right now, we need to expand Medicaid. We need to do all we can for infant mortality, all we can to help get pediatricians and OB/GYNs into these rural areas, so people don’t have to drive 60 miles to deliver babies. There’s a lot of things we could work together on.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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