“All human life is precious,” Alabama state governor Kay Ivey said as she signed the most restrictive abortion ban in the United states. The bill redefines an abortion as a homicide, regardless of the viability of the embryo/fetus. Whether a woman is a minor or an adult, they will be forced to complete the pregnancy or face a felony murder charge. A clause providing for an exemption on the premise of rape or incest was blocked by state legislation. The only way for an abortion to be granted is if the mother’s life is in danger, or the fetus develops life threatening abnormalities. 

  277 miles to the east and 709 miles to the north, the states of Georgia and Ohio respectively have also enacted similar bills, prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. A heartbeat can be detected after six weeks, a time frame where most women do not realize they’re pregnant. These states, and many other who are considering passing bills like these, plan to strip doctors of their medical license and sentence them up to 99 years in prison if they are found to have performed an abortion, according to the Washington Post.  

Furthermore, Georgia has included a provision in their bill outlawing a woman leaving the state to obtain an abortion elsewhere. This implies that women can be controlled by the state, which sounds like a line straight out of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale.” 

  Both bills are a gross over step of government power. The spearhead of the bills are politicians who align with the republican party. The ideal of conservatism advocates for less government involvement in people’s day to day lives, so bills such as these set up an outline for hypocrisy and the demolition of women’s reproductive rights. It’s not a politician’s place to force a woman to carry a pregnancy.  As stated in Roe v. Wade (1973), citizens are entitled to privacy within their doctor’s office. Restricting a woman’s choice is an egregious invasion of privacy. 

  Also, criminalizing abortions will not put an end to them, but it will put an end to safer ones. According to the national abortion federation, unsafe abortions done with non-medical equipment can cause injuries like, “perforations of the uterus, retained placentas, severe bleeding, cervical wounds, rampant infections, poisoning, shock, and gangrene.” While these injuries are still possible with medical abortions, they are much less common. 

  Arguments to defund Planned Parenthood because they provide abortion services are also unfounded. Planned Parenthood is a resource for potential parents to plan for parenthood, hence the name. They also provide breast, ovarian, uterine, cervical, testicular, prostate, and colon cancer screening services for women and men.  

  There are many more sustainable options to reduce the number of abortions performed yearly that do not infringe on women’s rights. Providing easier and more affordable access to birth control and setting a standard for better sex education are all ways to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. 

  The pro-life argument twists the issue away from reproductive rights. Being pro-choice is supporting a woman’s choice to either abort an unwanted pregnancy, or her choice to keep and raise a child, without forcing her to do either. As for Governor Ivey, she should choose her words more carefully, for the state of Alabama still institutes the death penalty: Administering a lethal injection to a fully-grown human is not very pro-life.