Background: Senate Bill 34 seeks to repeal Alabama’s abortion ban, The Alabama Human Life Protection Act. Under the existing abortion ban, the felony criminal penalty is established for any person providing or attempting to perform an abortion. The abortion ban only allows only the limited exception in cases that pose a “serious health risks” to a pregnant individual although even this vague language leaves abortion providers with very little guidance on how to interpret the law. The repeal would do away with the legislation that went into effect following the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision in June 2022.
Our Position: We support SB 34. The ACLU is committed to preserving reproductive freedom like the right to choose and we opposed the abortion ban in 2019. Alabama's abortion ban is an extreme example of government overreach which strips the right to choose and criminalizes those who perform the abortion procedure. SB 34 would reverse the State’s attacks on abortion that have been magnified by the recent overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision.
