Even Republicans are against Alabama’s efforts to ban ALL abortions…
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is taking the lead among Senate Republicans in slamming Alabama’s new law banning most abortions, calling it “very extreme” and a “terrible law.”
Collins, a moderate, said Thursday that the law is “inconsistent” with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established a women’s right to an abortion.
“I’m very much opposed to the Alabama law. I think it’s completely inconsistent with Roe v. Wade and will lead to a virtual ban on abortions in Alabama, even for victims of incest and rape. And to threaten a physician who performs an abortion with up to 99 years in jail is a very extreme law,” Collins told The Hill….
The top House Republican said Thursday that Alabama’s new state law banning almost all abortions goes too far.
California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, told reporters that the law, which doesn’t allow exceptions for abortions in cases of rape and incest, “goes further than I believe.”
McCarthy said he believes in “exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”
McCarthy wouldn’t take a stand on whether the Supreme Court should strike down the measure, the strictest abortion law in the nation, if a challenge were to reach the court. Opinion polls show widespread opposition to overturning the high court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which could return the issue back to the states….
Social conservatives hailed the measure as the purest legislative distillation of anti-abortion principles. But even some staunch conservatives cast doubts on the effort.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) told The Daily Beast that, in theory, passing state laws to jumpstart a legal challenge to Roe was a smart idea. But Rogers said he disagreed with the Alabama bill’s language on cases of rape and incest.
“I worry that if they’re that rigid, how that may impact the Supreme Court’s ultimate view of what they’re trying to do,” said Rogers.
“My hope is one of the other bills that has the exception in it actually gets to the court,” he said, referencing legislation in other states to restrict abortion access. “That has a better chance of overturning Roethan the Alabama bill does.”
The skepticism from Rogers reflected the broader mood of national Republicans. Not many were willing to offer defenses of the Alabama bill on its merits, choosing instead to talk legal strategies or point the finger at the opposition. Asked whether President Trump supports the Alabama law, Judd Deere, a spokesman for the White House, offered a statement that didn’t reference the law….
image…pfaw.org