Alabama’s new abortion ban, already facing a federal court challenge, has severe consequences for women who are the victims of rape or incest and then forced to give birth – shared child custody with the “father” whom they would prefer to forget.
Alabama joins Minnesota as one of only two states in the nation with no statute terminating parental rights for a person found to have conceived the child by rape or incest, according to the Washington Post. Obviously, this fact becomes even more relevant because in May, Alabama adopted the nation’s strictest abortion ban, which does not allow exemptions for rape or incest.
“While the Alabama abortion ban has been challenged in court, abortion rights activists fear it could reduce access to the procedure, forcing rape victims to bear children and co-parent with their attackers,” the June 9 Washington post article by Emily Wax-Thibodeaux said.
“It’s just … unfair and even dangerous to these mothers and their children,” said Alabama Sen. Vivian Figures, who voted against the abortion ban and also plans to introduce a bill which would close the current loophole.
Read more in the Washington Post report here.
Alabama isn’t the only state to remove rape and incest exceptions; in fact, they are now joined by Ohio, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
It appears the Republican party, fueled in part by ideological shifts at the supreme court, is ready to embrace orthodox abortion policy despite the American majority’s objection.
Read more about the ideological shift in the Republican Party.