Every woman should be allowed the right to choose whether or not to keep her baby or be able to have an abortion, whatever the circumstances. According to Governor Kay Ivey and the Republican Senators that agreed to sign the bill, women clearly do not have a right to choose what they want. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook; almost every single social media platform erupted with people expressing their anger and disgust at how such a law could have been passed.
The new law states that abortions have been made illegal but allow an exception if the “unborn child has a lethal anomaly” or “to avoid a serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother” in ectopic pregnancies. Doctors who may be caught violating the law and found performing an abortion in the state could face up to 99 years of prison. The fact that such an oppressive law has been made in the modern world caused a lot of uprising as soon as the news came out, and one of the worst aspects of it is that no exceptions will be made in cases of rape and incest. Twenty-five senators won against the six going against the passing of this law on the night of May 14th, and the states of Missouri and Louisiana following in the same footsteps.
A multitude of celebrities, influencers and people of the public took to their Twitter and other social media platforms expressing their opinions on the anti-abortion laws after hearing the news. The #YouKnowMe campaign created by actress Busy Philips consists of many women tweeting about their own personal stories around abortions and why they got them.
Many other states are now rushing to do the same as the few that have already proposed the ban, creating a very difficult situation for women living there. People are generally extremely unhappy about the fact that 25 men had the primary say in this; no female senators were including in the final decision. The New York Times has even described this situation as likely to be ‘worse’ than before the Roe v. Wade court case in 1973. It is shocking to see that parts of this country are turning back to old ways in terms of suppressing rights for women and having such harsh consequences put in place.