Reproductive Rights in Alabama

Rodick, a Planned Parenthood veteran of 24 years, had just returned from the state capital, Montgomery, when he spoke with Choice! Magazine. For the last several months, he had led a pedal-to-the-metal lobbying effort to coincide with the Alabama legislature's 2006 regular session. The notoriously anti-choice legislature had before it a handful of bills, including SB503 — one of 12 state abortion ban bills introduced throughout the country in 2006 — which, if passed, would send reproductive health care in Alabama into a steep and dangerous nosedive.

Now the session is over. And Rodick sounds relieved. "Just one of the bills made it through," he says, referring to HB19, which expands the definition of person to include a pre-embryo, embryo, or fetus — any stage of a pregnancy — in cases of criminal homicide and assault. "Everything else died on the floor."

A State on the Edge

Pro-choice advocates in Alabama have long been entangled in a constant battle to protect access to abortion. Gov. Robert Riley (R) is anti-choice. Most of those in the state House and Senate are the same. "It's the good old boys club," says Rodick, "mostly men, very few women in either house of the Alabama legislature. And most of these guys haven't got a clue about pregnancy or reproductive health."

"It's a pretty hostile environment," says Chris Snead, Planned Parenthood of Alabama's statewide grassroots coordinator. "We do polls that consistently show at least half of the state's population is pro-choice. But that's not the case when it comes to our representatives. Our legislators don't always represent their constituents very well."

Like many state governments, Alabama's has taken advantage of the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling, in which the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the ability of states to enact restrictions on abortion. In Alabama, those restrictions now include a law that mandates parental consent before a minor can receive an abortion, and a law that prohibits the public funding of abortion through Medicaid except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment.

Alabama also has a law requiring women who seek abortions to receive state-directed counseling and then wait 24 hours before undergoing the procedure. As part of this law, abortion providers must inform a woman seeking abortion of the probable gestational age of her embryo/fetus (which the provider must refer to as an "unborn child"), its probable anatomical and physiological characteristics, and other biased information designed to persuade her to change her mind.

Fighting Back

Against this backdrop, Planned Parenthood of Alabama, working hand in hand with a coalition that includes the American Association of University Women, Clergy for Choice, the League of Women Voters, and a variety of other groups representing everyone from attorneys to seniors, has dug in its feet. Says Rodick: "... while we haven't been perfect, we've done pretty well. We've stopped most bills that were bad, and we've gotten a few good ones passed."

This session, most of the coalition's energy went into SB503, which would have banned nearly all abortions in the state. "We strongly opposed the abortion ban bill," says Rodick. "We went down there [to Montgomery] and testified. We had all of our supporters calling their representatives. We did a lot of lobbying." According to Rodick, the Senate Judiciary chairman was ultimately convinced that the bill "had a lot of problems," and it never reached a vote. "I'm not sure it was all due to us," says Rodick, "but we played our part."

Another bill that lost traction and was eventually shelved was HB609, the "Health Care Rights of Conscience Act," also known as the "Refusal Bill," which would have given health care providers, institutions, and payers (entities or employers that arrange for the payment of health care services) the right to refuse to perform any service they deemed against their conscience. If passed, the bill could have severely restricted access to reproductive health care services such as abortion, birth control, and emergency contraception.

There was also HB250, which would have required physicians that provide abortions to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. "That would have been a problem for abortion providers who fly their doctors in from outside, which a lot of us do," says Rodick. "It had the potential to close a lot of providers. If you couldn't get admitting privileges, you'd be out of luck."

Hard Road Ahead

Ultimately, thanks in large part to the efforts of Rodick and his pro-choice allies, the 2006 legislative session saw virtually no gains for the anti-choice side. Even the bill that did pass, HB19, a so-called "fetal homicide" bill, "will mean nothing for patients," says Rodick. "It excludes abortion. So it has no practical effect on abortion services in Alabama."

Still, Rodick concedes, HB19's passage is not a good thing. Like similar bills passed in states around the country, it defines the fetus as a person. And at some point down the road, that precedent may prove problematic for Roe. "That's what the whole game is here," says Rodick. "It's to get the [U.S.] Supreme Court to change that definition."

The 2007 legislative session begins next spring, and until then — when Rodick expects to see many of the same bills reemerge — Planned Parenthood of Alabama will continue doing what it does best: providing reproductive health care and education services that not only enable access to abortion, but also help prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the need for abortion.

Efforts will also continue to ensure success on the advocacy side, as Planned Parenthood of Alabama builds and reinforces its pro-choice coalition. The visits to Montgomery will continue, as will the letter-writing and call-in campaigns.

As Statewide Grassroots Coordinator Snead says, even as she laments the ongoing disconnect between politicians and the public, the battle will be won only if the grassroots effort is there: "All we can do is fight as hard as we can fight, and make our wishes heard."