The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against pro-life legislation sponsored by Rainbow City-Republican state Senator Phil Williams during the 2016 Alabama legislative session last week.
The lawsuit challenges SB363, the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, which prohibits a procedure called dilation and evacuation (“D&E” abortion), which accounts for approximately 95 percent of all abortions in the second trimester. It allows an exception only in the event of a “serious health risk to the mother.”
According to Life News, “the ACLU argued that the laws restrict women’s access to abortion by closing abortion clinics and ‘severely curtailing’ second-trimester abortions in Alabama. Its lawyers also argued that dismemberment abortions are safe, common second-trimester procedures that women should have access to.”
Williams responded Tuesday and slammed the ACLU for the lawsuit.
“Last week, the ACLU filed a misguided legal challenge against the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Act (SB363), which prohibits the gruesome abortion of unborn children by dismemberment,” Williams said in a statement where he cited a U.S. Supreme Court opinion in the case of Stenberg v. Carhart by Justice Anthony Kennedy, describing the procedure: “The fetus, in many cases, dies just as a human adult or child would: It bleeds to death as it is torn limb from limb.”
“Life is a gift from God and protecting life is a primary duty of any court or legislature,” Williams continued. “The people’s representatives in the Alabama Legislature overwhelmingly approved the passage of the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Act, and I am confident the courts will uphold its legality.”
The law has been signed by Gov. Robert Bentley and is slated to go into effect August 1.
.SenPhilWilliams takes stand against ACLU lawsuit over #prolife law https://t.co/a2WfrY1moq #ALPolitics AlabamaToday #ALToday
RT @AlabamaToday: .@SenPhilWilliams takes stand against @ACLU lawsuit over #prolife law https://t.co/rRajVISBBU #ALPolitics
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