Alabama Republicans on Thursday sent proceedings in the state’s Senate into chaos when they used a procedural move to try to jam through a bill banning abortion in the state in all circumstances, at all stages of pregnancy.
Alabama House Bill 314, which has no exceptions for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, passed in the House on April 30 by a vote of 74-3, with three Democrats voting against it and the rest of the 28 House Democrats walking out in protest before the vote. All but two Republican representatives, who didn’t vote, voted for the bill.
Now the bill has been taken up by the state Senate. On Wednesday, an amendment was added in committee that added exceptions for rape and incest, but on Thursday, Republicans moved to strip the added amendment from the bill. The Republican presiding over the Senate, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, called for a voice vote on removal of the amendment before anyone else in the chamber had a chance to object, discuss, or demand a roll-call vote. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton and other Democrats argued that the voice vote “gave cover to Republicans unwilling to put their names on an amendment that would ban abortions even for women who were raped.”
Following the resulting uproar and chaos, the vote on the bill in the Senate was postponed. Time reports that “Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh suggested lawmakers go home for the weekend to cool off and resume debate on the bill Tuesday. Marsh said he supports an exemption for rape and wants a roll call vote on the matter next week. He said the bill still has a favorable outlook in the GOP-dominated chamber.”