Thread by @bri_sacks

Alabama Sen. Clyde Chambliss while introducing a bill that could nearly end abortions in the state: “I’m not trained medically...but there’s some period of time when you know a woman to be pregnant”

Lawmakers are expected to amend it soon #alpolitics
buzzfeednews.com/article/salvad…

Republican male Alabama senator on the controversial abortion bill: "I'm not trained medically so I don't know all the proper timelines...Once that person is known to be pregnant then this bill will take into effect. That bill will highlight that period of time" 🤔🤔

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, a Democrat, says the bill "is going to be unconstitutional... It does not make sense that we are going to spend millions and millions of dollars to take something up that will be declared totally unconstitutional."

Smitherman on adding incest and rape exemptions, gives example of a 12yo girl who was raped by a family member: "We’re telling people you have no choice and that’s the life you have to live for the rest of your life. That’s what we’re telling her in that scenario” #alpolitics

the male lawmakers are now debating religion, Jesus dying on the cross, and how they are putting themselves "in place of God when choosing to extinguish a life" when a woman chooses to get an abortion

Chambliss explaining that a woman can get an abortion as long as she doesn't know she's pregnant: "There's a window of time when a woman knows she's pregnant...She has to do something to know whether she's pregnant or not...It takes time for all the chromosomes to come together"

This exchange between Sen. Vivian Figures and Chambliss on not including exemptions for rape or incest in the abortion bill:

"That is not your business. You don't have to raise that child..You know there is no law on the books that says what a man can or cannot do with his body"

Figures after her 2nd #ALpolitics abortion bill amendment fails:

Has there ever been anything [in these bills] about things happening to the man who impregnated her? Have we ever addressed that?

Man: No

Figures: Why do you want to control our bodies I will never, ever know

Figures wanted to make it a felony for men to get a vasectomy. It failed:

"I could have offered an amendment that says it's mandatory that all men get a vasectomy at age 21, then you can get it reversed when you decide you want to start a family and have children. But I didn't"

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D: “This bill isn’t about the right to life. This bill is about control.”

She then goes in how Alabama does not provide support, education, medical care to these mothers

"The sin to me is bringing a child into this world and not caring for them"

Coleman-Madison to Republican senators: "Maybe we should come up with a castration bill...you guys come up with some crazy bills...I would like to open up your minds and see what is going on inside, I really would. Y'all came from a woman, did you not get anything from her?" 🔥

Coleman-Madison to Chambliss: define bill's phrase "known to be pregnant"

Him: If you don't know. You're not known to be pregnant

Her: Typical male answer—You men don't know what you don't know bc you've never been pregnant

Him: I don't know if I'm smart enough to be pregnant

Coleman-Madison introduced an amendment to the abortion bill that would require Alabama to pay for medical care for all children the state requires a woman to carry to term until they are 13, plus care for the mother

It failed 23-6

"This bill is about control," she restates

Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton recognized 3 rape survivors who are in the gallery and tells their stories

"These women are victims of rape who had to abort their child because of that"

He then asks Chambliss if he has a daughter

Chambliss: This isn't about my family

Singleton says he is pro-life, but cannot fathom forcing a young rape victim to have a baby:

"If you are going to allow a baby to be raped, or a father, or an uncle, or a cousin to have babies by their own family, gentlemen, you couldn't have been thinking this through"

After a long, passionate speech, Sen. Singleton officially introduced an amendment to add exceptions for rape and incest into the controversial abortion bill.

It failed 11 to 21.
#alpolitics

Alabama Sen. Singleton is now talking for another hour to delay the final vote on the abortion bill, saying that not letting victims of rape/incest "just killed Alabama," calling his state "backward"

"You just raped the state of Alabama yourself," he told his GOP colleagues

Well, this is a fun new phrase: "Ain't no fun when the rabbit got the gun."

Will adopt.

30 seconds before the Senate voted to stop Singleton's filibuster and end the debate on the near-total ban on abortion bill, he says:

"I would just like to say to all the women in the state of Alabama, 'I'm sorry.'"

#alpolitics

A robot is now reading the entire bill before the Alabama Senate votes on it because this shit isn't Handmaid's Tale enough

There we go, after four hours the Alabama Senate voted 25 to 6 to approve a near-total ban on abortion #alpolitics

Welp. Alabama Republicans voted to basically ban abortions, even for victims of rape and incest, and make it a felony for a doctor to perform the procedure. The bill now goes to the gov. If she signs it, it'd be the most restrictive abortion law in the US buzzfeednews.com/article/tasnee…

.@ACLU's response/message to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey:

"We will not stand by while politicians endanger the lives of women and doctors for political gain. Know this, Governor Ivey: If you sign this dangerous bill into law, we will see you in court.”

Also, Alabama's Senate is comprised of 31 men and 3 women. So there you go.

It's official: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed the state's abortion bill into law, writing that "this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious & that every life is a sacred gift from God"

https://twitter.com/GovernorKayIvey/status/1128781312750432262