Women React To Alabama's Draconian Abortion Ban: 'It's Time To Fight Like Hell'

Updated May 15, 2019 at 10:33 PM

People across the country are devastated after the Alabama state Senate passed the country’s strictest abortion bill.

The state Senate on Tuesday night passed the Human Life Protection Act, an extreme anti-abortion measure that bans the procedure in all cases, including rape and incest. The only exception to the legislation is if the life of a pregnant woman is at risk.

The bill passed 25 to 6. All the yes votes were made by white male senators.

If signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey (R), performing an abortion procedure would become a felony offense punishable by a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. Ivey has not publicly stated whether she will sign the bill into law.

The legislation would go into effect within six months after the governor’s signature.

“These 25 men, who will never be pregnant, just legislated more rights to rapists than to women, girls & victims of rape/incest,” Twitter user Nahanni Fontaine?, a Canadian politician, wrote after the state Senate passed the bill. “This is some backwards, archaic, intentionally repressive crap.”

These 25 men, who will never be pregnant, just legislated more rights to rapists than to women, girls & victims of rape/incest.

This is some backwards, archaic, intentionally repressive crap.

Now’s not the time to be complacent.

DO NOT ACCEPT THIS!#AbortionRights #Alabama pic.twitter.com/PoeAVVGNfB
— Nahanni Fontaine (@NahanniFontaine) May 15, 2019

Many others on Twitter weighed in on the controversial vote, including Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

“This is a war on women, and it is time to fight like hell,” Gillibrand wrote.

Warren called the legislation “dangerous” and “exceptionally cruel,” adding that “we are not going back” to a pre-Roe v. Wade era in which abortion in the U.S. was illegal.

Alabama just passed a near-total ban on abortion.

No exceptions for rape or incest.

Doctors could face 99 years in prison for providing abortions.

This is a war on women, and it is time to fight like hell. https://t.co/lhwlbyeQsl
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) May 15, 2019

This ban is dangerous and exceptionally cruel—and the bill’s authors want to use it to overturn Roe v. Wade. I've lived in that America and let me tell you: We are not going back—not now, not ever. We will fight this. And we will win. https://t.co/WNlr7Ys73q
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 15, 2019

Outrageous news coming out of Alabama. This law would effectively ban abortions in the state and criminalize doctors for doing their jobs - providing health care to women. https://t.co/90utkxn7J2
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 15, 2019

This bill in Alabama is effectively a ban on abortion. This is wrong. This is unconstitutional. https://t.co/dsRWqAY4PW
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— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) May 15, 2019

Alabama is among numerous states considering extreme anti-abortion legislation. This year, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Mississippi have passed laws banning abortion after six weeks, a point at which many women don’t even realize they’re pregnant. Texas lawmakers are considering the death penalty for any woman who undergoes an abortion procedure.

Women on Twitter likened the draconian anti-abortion legislation to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a fictional TV series that portrays a dystopian future where women are seen as second-class citizens and many are only used to have children.

“This is how The Handmaid’s Tale started,” the musician Lizzo tweeted. “It’s shit like this and we gon look up and be enslaved again y’all ― stay vigilant because this is terrifying.”

Others urged action.

“Don’t shake your head at Alabama and then keep going about your day. Realize that this is a warning,” director Ava DuVernay wrote. “It’s Alabama and abortion today. It’s you and your rights tomorrow. Your silence will not save you. So speak up.”

Read more reactions to Alabama’s abortion ban below:

Don’t move forward after reading this like everything is normal. Don’t shake your head at Alabama and then keep going about your day. Realize that this is a warning. It’s Alabama and abortion today. It’s you and your rights tomorrow. Your silence will not save you. So speak up. https://t.co/kIz78uAU1T
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) May 15, 2019

Y’all need to stop saying Alabama or Georgia lawmakers are hicks or hillbillies etc. What they are is systematically dismantling women’s rights one state at a time to eventually overturn Roe v Wade and before long it will be your state legislators.
— roxane gay (@rgay) May 15, 2019

This AL abortion ban should make everyone stop in our tracks. It’s no time for sorrow or for apologies. It’s time to sound the alarm and take action. Follow @ilyseh @NARAL @PPact @NAPAWF @AbortionFunds @jgonzalez_rojas for action & analysis. https://t.co/K8r9JvDeUR
— Ai-jen Poo (@aijenpoo) May 15, 2019

When states like Alabama pass laws they know are unconstitutional the spend millions of tax payer dollars in legal fees defending these laws while their schools, child care systems, and healthcare systems deteriorate. Radical ideology over basic services never ends well.
— ilyse hogue (@ilyseh) May 15, 2019

Abortion is health care.

That’s it. That’s the tweet.
— Christina Coleman (@ChrissyCole) May 15, 2019

Years ago at 19 weeks pregnant I started hemorrhaging. No one thought the pregnancy was still viable from the ER docs to the OB/GYN on duty. But still a nurse had to call in a doctor who did abortions to save my life. Abortion bans aren't about saving lives.
— ?Mikki Kendall? (@Karnythia) May 15, 2019

Tonight, 25 out of 31 state senators in Alabama, all of them men, voted for an abortion ban that would literally force victims of rape and incest to carry a pregnancy to term.

To every so-called "progressive" who says we should try to reason with these people:

FUCK. YOU.
— Charlotte Clymer🏳??🌈 (@cmclymer) May 15, 2019

This is how The Handmaid's Tale started. It’s shit like this and we gon look up and be enslaved again y’all — stay vigilant because this is terrifying https://t.co/o7MgwFvab9
— |L I Z Z O| (@lizzo) May 15, 2019

Leave our bodies alone.
Leave our bodies alone.
Leave our bodies alone.
Leave our bodies alone.
Leave our bodies alone.
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) May 15, 2019

The Alabama GOP want to ban all abortions but supported a senate candidate who got banned from a mall for harassing teenage girls.
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) May 15, 2019

So what happens when a pregnant women in Alabama needs chemotherapy? What about radiation? Will she get no say and be forced by the state to forgo treatment until she gives birth?

Things are already bad but they have the potential to get so much worse.

We have to fight.
— Ally Maynard (@missmayn) May 15, 2019

Alabama is coming for Roe v. Wade.

Ohio is coming for Roe v. Wade

Georgia is coming for Roe v. Wade.

This is beyond terrifying. It’s reality.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@K_JeanPierre) May 15, 2019