A top Democratic state senator from Alabama said Wednesday that the state “raped women” by passing the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion legislation.
Alabama State Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D) gave the harsh criticism on CNN’s “New Day” with Alisyn Camerota one day after the GOP-led body passed the legislation effectively banning abortion.
{mosads}“I think we raped women last night,” Singleton said. “We made women of Alabama the model of the new Roe v. Wade. I think that this is just a horrible bill.”
The legislation outlaws almost all abortions in the state, including for victims of rape and incest. It would only permit the procedure if necessary to save the mother’s life.
Anyone performing an abortion could be punished by 10 to 99 years in prison, but no criminal charges would be filed against a person undergoing the procedure.
“I hate to think the fact that if someone would rape my daughter at 12 years old … that is just sad to tell my daughter that she had to carry that baby for nine months here in the state of Alabama and look that rapist in the face for the rest of her life,” Singleton said. “I just couldn’t take it as a father, so I had to speak up for women all over the country, for the women in the state of Alabama, because this was just wrong.”
The bill passed by a 25-6 margin and Gov. Kay Ivey (R) now has six days to sign the bill. She has not publicly said whether she will sign the measure.
The bill will take effect in six months if it becomes law.
Four states have recently approved so-called fetal “heartbeat” abortion laws that outlaw the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected, but Alabama’s new bill is now the most restrictive in the country.
Supporters of the bill have said they hope the legislation will set up a Supreme Court battle that could potentially overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.