Booker: Alabama abortion bill part of a ‘coordinated attack’

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) stepped up his condemnation of Alabama’s abortion bill Wednesday, calling it part of a “coordinated attack” in an interview with AL.com.

The bill, which would ban abortion in almost all cases, including rape and incest, is “the most direct assault on women’s rights and freedoms and ability to control their own lives,” the presidential candidate told the publication, saying it represents only part of ongoing assault on Roe v. Wade that involved “extremist” politicians appointing conservative judges while voter suppression drove down African-American and low income participation.

{mosads}“It was a coordinated attack,” he told the publication. “This is yet another blow.”

Booker told the publication the state, if it sincerely wanted to curb abortion rates, should instead follow the examples of states like Colorado, with significantly reduced teen pregnancies and abortions after instituting a program in 2008 that offered free or low-cost intrauterine devices, implants and other long-acting reversible contraceptives.

“We now have so much data showing that if you want to lower the rates of abortions, it can be done in a far more sound and unifying way,” Booker told the publication.

The New Jersey senator noted that if Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signs the legislation, it may be years before it or another state law reaches the Supreme Court, which many of the bill’s proponents have said is the ultimate goal. Booker urged activists to organize politically in the meantime.

“The way to deal with injustice is action and organizing—and electing leaders who respect Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. There have been so many assaults on women and children before, assaults that lead to high rates of infant mortality, lack of access to prenatal and postpartum care, which causes so many ill effects,” Booker said. 

“We should want to affirm the decisions of women instead of endangering women.”