Alabama’s governor said Wednesday he plans to sign legislation mandating stricter abortion clinic standards, as Mississippi has done.
Opponents said Alabama’s law aims to put abortion clinics out of business and will be challenged in court like Mississippi’s.
The Republican-led House and Senate passed the bill late Tuesday night, mostly along party lines. It now goes to Republican Gov. Robert Bentley, who said he plans to sign it after his lawyers make sure there have been no unanticipated changes from the bill he endorsed early in the legislative session.
Bentley said the bill will make it safer for women to have abortions, even though he’s personally opposed to abortion. “I’m a pro-life governor, and I believe life begins at conception and implantation that’s viable,” said Bentley, a physician.
Opponents contend the bill is designed to shut down most of Alabama’s five licensed abortion clinics through excessive regulation, and they are talking about a legal battle like the one that has kept Mississippi’s 2012 law from being enforced.
“Planned Parenthood stands ready to do whatever it takes to protect Alabamians’ health and rights in the face of this dangerous law and blatant attack on women’s health and rights,” said Nikema Williams, vice president of Planned Parenthood Southeast.
Planned Parenthood operates two clinics.
The bill requires abortion clinics to use doctors who have approval to admit patients to hospitals in the same city. Some clinics now use out-of-town doctors who don’t have local hospital privileges. Williams said only one clinic in Alabama has a resident doctor with local admitting privileges.
In Mississippi, the state’s last remaining abortion clinic maintains its doctors can’t get privileges at Jackson hospitals, that and the law will close the clinic if it is enforced.
Bentley said getting admitting privileges shouldn’t be a problem. “If a doctor cannot obtain admitting privileges in the area where they practice, then they probably should not be practicing there,” he said.
The bill also sets stricter building requirements, including wider halls and doors and better fire-suppression systems. The state Department of Public Health, which regulates Alabama’s five abortion clinics, reports that most will not meet the stricter standards.
“If an abortion clinic is truly dedicated to providing adequate care, ensuring dependable safeguards, and putting patients’ needs before profits, it will embrace this legislation rather than oppose it,” said the sponsor, Republican Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin of Pelham.
Under the bill, abortion clinics will be required to ask any girl under age 16 for the name and age of the person who got her pregnant. She doesn’t have to answer. If she does answer and the father is more than two years older, the clinic must report that to police for investigation of a possible sex crime. If the girl is younger than 14, the clinic must report her name to the state Department of Human Resources for review.
Republican Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale said that provision is aimed at uncovering cases of sexual abuse of young girls.
The Alabama Center for Health Statistics reports 9,523 abortions were performed in Alabama in 2011 and 171 involved girls under 16.
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