If Roe overturned, sponsor of strict abortion law would want exceptions for rape, incest

May 5—Even though she sponsored Alabama's law banning almost all abortions, a Decatur lawmaker said that if Roe v. Wade is overturned she would push for a new law that includes exceptions for rape and incest and that only bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectible.

Republican Rep. Terri Collins said the state's 2019 abortion law, which could take effect if a draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion is adopted by the court, was designed to challenge Roe v. Wade, but she does not view it as being the best law for Alabama. She instead would prefer the fetal heartbeat bill she sponsored unsuccessfully in 2016 and 2017.

"The exceptions (for rape and incest) — those are not the choices I would make personally — but they are such extreme, extenuating circumstances that I believe they merit an exception," Collins said.

Collins' Alabama Human Life Protection Act passed in May 2019 and was to take effect in November 2019. A federal district judge on Oct. 29, 2019, blocked enforcement of the law on the grounds that "banning abortion before viability violates Supreme Court precedent."

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson focused on the precedents found in the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade and the 1992 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

A draft Supreme Court opinion leaked to Politico and published Monday, however, suggests that the precedents upon which Thompson relied may not be good law for long.

"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision," the leaked draft opinion attributed to Justice Samuel Alito holds.

Whether Alabama's 2019 law would pass muster under Alito's draft opinion is not clear. The court in that case is dealing with a challenge to a Mississippi law that is less restrictive than Alabama's. While the Mississippi law also includes no exception for rape or incest, it only bans abortions performed more than 15 weeks after conception.

The Alabama law, with some exceptions related to the health of the mother or the certainty of the child's death immediately after birth, would ban abortions from the point of conception. An abortion provider violating the ban would be guilty of a Class A felony.

Collins said the goal of the 2019 law was simply to overturn Roe and other Supreme Court cases providing a right to abortion. Once those precedents are overturned, she said, the Legislature can go through the process of determining what Alabama's abortion law should look like. Her preference would be one that only bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectible and that allows abortion when a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Collins said she prayed about whether to sponsor the 2019 bill, or whether to again sponsor her preferred heartbeat bill.

"Where do you want to make those boundaries in the law? I did pray about all of that. That's one of the reasons I was such a proponent of the heartbeat bill. Even the year we carried the Human Life Protection Act, I prayed about it a lot before, because which bill did I want? I knew which bill I would want for our state, but until Roe v. Wade was overturned, we were never going to get a bill that was designed for our state," Collins said. "That was what caused us to stand so strong on that issue."

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'God's creation'

While Collins said she prefers replacing the 2019 law with one that is more lenient, she is not sure where other lawmakers stand.

"If we were able to have our law in Alabama, the heartbeat bill would be my preference. But it would also have to go through the legislative process and we would have to see what comes out on the other side," she said.

"Some of them aren't going to want the heartbeat bill. They're not going to want, as they would say it, to back up. It will have to work its way through the process. The process is in place for a reason. It's hard to get things passed. We'll want to make sure we do what we believe is the best thing as we govern abortion within the state."

Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, co-sponsored the 2019 abortion bill. He said if Roe is overturned, he would not support the more lenient heartbeat bill.

"I don't believe in taking lives. I don't think that's right," Stadthagen said. "As far as ... a kid being yanked out, I'm 100% wholeheartedly against that. That's God's creation."

Stadthagen said he does support giving women who are victims of rape or incest access to the "morning-after pill," a contraceptive taken after intercourse that's designed to prevent pregnancy.

"If someone is raped they can go to the doctor the next day and take medication that prevents that. I would absolutely be OK with that," he said. "I have compassion for people who are raped and people who (are victims of) incest. I have compassion for those people. There's a pill that they can take shortly after."

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, voted against the 2019 law. She said she seriously doubts that Collins' expressed hope that the law will be replaced with the more lenient heartbeat bill will happen.

"Quite frankly, I think Alabama will be looking for something even more stringent. We always feel that no matter how tight we've tightened the nut, we have to turn it a little bit more. I don't understand how we're so quick to take away the rights of other people," she said.

Robin Marty is director of communications at West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, one of three clinics that still provide abortions in the state. She said because of the anti-abortion laws on the books in Alabama, her clinic will immediately stop performing abortions if the Supreme Court overrules Roe.

"When they say the words, 'Roe v. Wade is over,' then we have to immediately stop offering care," Marty said. "That means patients in the waiting room, even if they already paid: No abortion. If they are in the back room with a cup of water waiting to take their medication: No abortion. If they are on an exam table: No abortion. We'll have to send them home."

She said the impact of such a ruling, combined with the state ban on abortions, would be devastating.

"Most of the people that come into the clinic are Black women. Most of them are uninsured and have no access to health care other than going to emergency rooms. Many are at or below the poverty level and most are receiving financial assistance in order to get an abortion," Marty said. "Many of them are already parents, so they are exactly aware of what it takes to give birth and raise a family."

Marty said many are unable to afford birth control pills.

She said she expects that if Roe is overturned, Alabama women seeking an abortion will need to find the resources to get to Washington D.C. or Chicago.

"These are people who already struggled just to get to our clinic. They're not going to be able to do this. ... These barriers are going to be insurmountable," Marty said. "Pregnant people who don't want to be pregnant are going to do desperate things." — 'Back-pedaling'

Planned Parenthood is one of the organizations that sued Alabama and blocked enforcement of the 2019 law. Lauren Frazier, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, stressed that abortion remains legal. If the Supreme Court ultimately overrules Roe v. Wade, she said about 26 states have already adopted or are poised to adopt severe restrictions or outright bans on abortion. Her organization would then work to get women to states where abortion remains an option.

"If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Alabamians will no longer have access to care," Frazier said. "We'll be supporting them by helping them find financial support for covering travel, hotel costs, meals, whatever they need."

Marty said that if Roe is overruled the short-term effect will be a near-total ban on abortion in many states, but she suspects that will change over time.

"I think what we're going to see across the nation, and especially in the South, is a lot of back-pedaling," she said. "People have been introducing these bills under the assumption that Roe would never disappear. They've been introducing them primarily as political tools. They could get through primaries with them and prove they were the most far-right without ever having to see the consequences of them in action. And now they're about to see it.

"I'm not surprised at all that suddenly people who were very adamant that there be no exceptions and that every abortion be ended now are saying, 'Maybe I'll add a little window in case somebody I know needs one.'"

— eric@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2435. Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.