Will New Alabama Tighter Abortion Restriction Law Bolster National Pro-Life Battle?
If you live in Alabama and for decades believed that the liberal forces who have waged war against the life of the unborn were winning, they are not! Now, millions across the state and America can breathe freely knowing Alabama’s new tighter, more strict regulations on clinics performing abortions are working to make the state more pro-life.
With a stroke of the pen, Alabama Republican Governor Robert Bentley signed a law which placed tighter restrictions on abortion clinics and doctors who perform abortions in local communities. This legislation works to stifle the practice of abortion clinics using out-of-town doctors who perform abortions, yet have no privileges to practice medicine at area hospitals, according to Reuters.
This places the care of and attention to the welfare of the patient squarely in the hands of the physicians who practice medicine in that area, instead of doctors parachuting in to do abortions as has been the case.
This new law is part of the growing movement among states that are concerned that doctors, who perform abortions on local residents, be able to administer medical care at local hospitals. With the passage of the new law, Alabama becomes the seventh state that mandates a doctor performing abortions have local hospital admitting privileges. No carpet-bagging physicians allowed.
The Alabama law also mandates that any girl under 16 years of age, should be asked by an abortion clinic the age and name of the person responsible for the pregnancy. This is critical, because if that person is two years or older, the clinic is required to report this information to the police.
The state law goes further to protect that girl if she is younger than 14, in requiring the clinic to provide her name to the Alabama Department of Human Resources. This allows the state agency to investigate in order to determine child sex abuse.
Pro-Life opponents protested against the law’s enactment and claimed during their protests that the state is attempting to shutdown abortion in Alabama. Yet, these same abortion supporters have offered no real alternative legislation which will insure that the 171 girls under 16 who had abortions in the state would be protected. They raise no outrage or indignation at the thought that these abused girls should be protected from predators.