The Alabama Agony

The United States of America is popular across the globe for the quality of life the country offers, multicultural environment enriching the national character, vast economic and educational opportunities and women safety. But wait, did I say women safety. Are women actually safe there? Is having a robust emergency system like ‘911’ completes the safety procedure for women.

Alabama, a state in the south-eastern region of the United States, recently passed the Human Life Protection Act. The bill signed on May 15, 2019, will impose a near-total ban on abortion in the state starting in November 2019. The Alabama bill has been in the national spotlight since the day it was introduced in the Senate.

The United States must be very proud that the abortion laws made in Alabama and Georgia are more restrictive than prohibitions in about half of the Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East. Abortion laws in other Muslim-majority nations allow pregnancies to be terminated in cases of rape, incest, fetal impairment, or risk to a woman’s mental or physical health but the state Senate in Alabama approved the law rejecting exemptions for cases of rape or incest.

One thing that I’m not able to understand yet is how a bunch of old rich white men with gray hair can go into a room and vote on a bill that affects women with NO WOMEN in the room!!

In the 21^st Century, known for its liberal, free and broad-based thoughts, there are still places where a woman has to struggle for her basic rights and freedom while in ancient times a woman was asked to decide what punishment they want to see the convict to get. Native Americans had their own tribal courts contrasted with the American ones of today. Women played prominent roles in all aspects of the ancient culture; violence against them was fundamentally in sharp opposition with one's conception of self and society.

Laws should be the tools that empower the individual for whom they are made rather than holding them back from achieving their potential. An uncompromising law like this doesn’t guarantee that abortion will stop totally. It only means that the same procedures will now be performed illegally and unsafely.

The bill has been constantly objected since the day it was passed. The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed suit to challenge Alabama’s recent ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, which has no exceptions for rape or incest. When an individual’s health is at stake, no one should have the power to dictate his/her access to health care. People should have the right to make the decisions that are best for their bodies without anyone’s interference.

“Nobody knows what a woman goes through. I know you don’t because you’re not a woman. You don’t know why I would want to have an abortion. It could be because of my health, it could be for many reasons. My choice is important. I just want to say one thing. Until all of you walk in a woman’s shoes, y’all don’t know.” - -Rep. Louise Alexander, D-Birmingham