The Human Life Protection Act, also known as House Bill 314 (HB 314) and the Alabama abortion ban, is an

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

statute enacted on May 15, 2019, that imposes a near-total ban on

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

in the state. Set to go into effect in November 2019, a legal challenge against the bill delayed implementation until 2022. The bill was passed in both chambers of the

Alabama Legislature The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both chambers serve ...

in a party-line vote and signed by Republican governor

Kay Ivey Kay Ellen Ivey (born October 15, 1944) is an American politician serving as the 54th and incumbent governor of Alabama since 2017. Originally a conservative Southern Democrat, Ivey became a member of the Republican Party in 2002. She was the 38th ...

. Under the Human Life Protection Act, a doctor who performs a banned abortion in the state of Alabama is guilty of a Class A

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that res ...

, and could be sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed te ...

. Several proposed amendments that would have allowed abortions in cases of rape and incest were rejected. From its introduction to its signing, the Human Life Protection Act has been strongly opposed by

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

politicians and activists; it has also been criticized by a number of Republican politicians. Legal challenges to the act were quickly brought by abortion rights advocates; a

preliminary injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...

against the law was issued by U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama judge Myron Herbert Thompson in October 2019. On June 24, 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned ''Roe v. Wade'' in '' Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', Judge Thompson lifted the injunction, allowing the law to go into effect.

Legislative history

The bill was introduced in the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with each constituency contain ...

on April 2, 2019, by Terri Collins, a Republican representing Decatur. In the Alabama Senate, Republican

Clyde Chambliss Clyde Lee Chambliss Jr. (born April 16, 1969) is an American Republican politician who has served in the Alabama Senate from the 30th district since 2014. He completed his degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama in 1992, after ...

sponsored Collins' legislation. Eric Johnson, the president of the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition, wrote the Human Life Protection Act.

Provisions

The Human Life Protection Act bans abortions at any stage of a pregnancy. The law provides for exceptions in cases where a fetus has a lethal anomaly (a medical condition that would cause the fetus to be

stillborn Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. The ter ...

or to die shortly following birth), or in cases where a pregnancy would "present serious health risk" to the woman. The law does not ban procedures to end ectopic pregnancies. It does not include an exception in cases of rape or incest. The Human Life Protection Act classifies the performance of an illegal abortion as a Class A felony equivalent to rape and murder. Doctors found guilty under its provisions could receive sentences ranging from 10 years imprisonment to 99 years or

. An attempt at performing an illegal abortion is classified by the bill as a Class C felony. The bill also states that women receiving abortions would not be held criminally or civilly liable. A provision in the bill compared abortion to historical genocide events, reading: "More than 50 million babies have been aborted in the United States since the ''Roe'' decision in 1973, more than three times the number who were killed in German death camps, Chinese purges,

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

Cambodian killing fields The Killing Fields ( km, វាលពិឃាត, ) are a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than one million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime (the Communist Party of Kampuchea) during Khmer Rouge ru ...

, and the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

combined".

Debate

Anthony Daniels, the

minority leader of the House of Representatives, proposed an amendment to the bill that would allow abortions in cases of rape and incest, but it was rejected by a vote of 72–26. Collins opposed the amendment, and stated: "My goal with this bill is to let the Supreme Court possibly revisit he ''Roe v. Wade''">Roe_v._Wade.html" ;"title="he ''Roe v. Wade">he ''Roe v. Wade''decision on just the issue that they made that decision, which was, is that baby in the womb a Personhood">person A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

Legislative history

Provisions

Debate

Vote and enactment

House of Representatives

Senate

Legal challenge

Reaction

References