These Tragic Loopholes Keep Alabama Abortion Alive

Ever since HB 314 (the Human Life Protection Act) was signed in to law in 2019, people have thought that abortion was banned in Alabama. In reality, although the clinics briefly closed in response to that law, abortions continued in the same way they had for decades. Until the Dobbs decision that is. When Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey were overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 24, 2022, the abortion clinics in our state were finally closed for good. But that was not the end of legal abortion in Alabama. Far from it.

Despite both right-wing and left-wing media outlets repeatedly listing Alabama as one of the states that has banned abortion that is far from true. Yes, the clinics are no longer able to operate but that is only one part of the picture.

Even before Roe was overturned, the majority of abortions were NOT performed by doctors with forceps or curette. They were done by the pregnant woman swallowing a pill. A chemical abortion is both cheaper and easier than surgery.

The Human Life Protection Act has two major loopholes. The first is that it specifically prohibits prosecuting women who take abortion pills. Women can order pills through the mail and take them in their own homes. According to the Foundation to Abolish Abortion there were 3,731 such abortions in Alabama in the last year alone. Without any doctor present the mother is the only one involved in the act and these murders have gone completely unpunished.

The other loophole is in vitro fertilization. The law forbids "intentionally perform[ing] or attempt[ing] to perform an abortion". Because it words it this way instead of broadly giving protection to unborn humans, it leaves open the possibility of discarding human embryos fertilized in a laboratory. While it is murder to intentionally destroy human embryos, it is technically not an abortion. Sadly our legislature doubled down on this last year when they passed a law explicitly allowing IVF clinics to throw tiny humans in the garbage.

While the killing of babies in the first few weeks after fertilization is less grisly than what many might first think of when they hear the term "abortion," it is no less evil. Yes, the gruesome dismemberment of second trimester babies may not be happening, but Alabama babies are still being murdered at a rate similar to that before Dobbs.

In summary, thousands of our preborn neighbors are being legally slaughtered in Alabama every year. We need equal protection now.