Rep. Juandalyn Givan (D-Birmingham) announced she’s introducing a bill during the Alabama legislative session that would require a father to choose between paying for a woman’s abortion or having a vasectomy.
According to the bill, a district judge can nullify the payment requirement if the father agrees to have a vasectomy.
“In recent years, the Legislature has passed laws restricting reproduction rights in the state and the penalties have been imposed only on women. It’s time for that to change,” Givan said. “The last time I checked a biology textbook, it takes a woman and a man to make a baby. Men in Alabama need to be held to the same level of responsibility as women.”
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Givan’s legislation, House Bill 90, would specifically add changes to Alabama’s abortion laws pertaining to rape and incest, as well as the health of the mother. Currently, state law only allows an abortion if their is serious risk to the mother.
In 2020, another Alabama lawmaker, State Rep. Rolanda Hollis (D), introduced similar legislation that would have required men to get vasectomies within one month of turning 50 years old or when their third biological child is born.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1927 that forced sterilization “for the protection and health of the state” did not violate the Due Process Clause of the fourteenth amendment. The Court has never overturned the ruling.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
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