Pro-'medical freedom' Alabama Republican pitches charging women who get abortions with murder

An Alabama state lawmaker who ran on a platform of "medical freedom" when it came to vaccines now has a bill that could potentially send women to prison for having abortions, reported Law & Crime.

"Newly-elected state Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, a Republican who ran on a 'medical freedom' platform in 2022, introduced HB 454 Tuesday. The proposal would repeal the provision of existing state law that prohibits prosecuting someone who has an abortion for homicide or assault," reported Elura Nanos. "The law would also add a provision that 'prosecutions of homicide or assault where the victim is an unborn child shall be treated the same as prosecutions of homicide or assault of a person born alive.'"

"Alabama’s proposed HB 454 allows a defense if a person was 'compelled… by threat of imminent death or serious physical injury to himself or another,' but only if the person using that defense did not 'place[] himself in a situation in which it was probable that he would be subjected to duress,'" said the report. "Notably, the bill’s language uses male pronouns to describe those who may be prosecuted under it, even though abortions are normally obtained only by pregnant women."

Several other states, including Texas and Lousiana, have considered similar legislation, and South Carolina even debated a bill that would make abortion punishable by death.

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In most states that have restricted or banned abortion since the Supreme Court eliminated Roe v. Wade last year, however, the law avoids directly prosecuting women who have abortions themselves, instead focusing on either the doctors or anyone who assists in helping women procure the procedure. Texas recently saw its first test of its infamous "abortion bounty" law, with an alleged abuser named Marcus Silva trying to sue over his ex-wife's abortion as a means of controlling her, only for it to backfire in his face as her friends produced evidence he had entrapped her into it.

According to the report, this bill also seeks to extend protected class status to fetuses under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — and force federal courts hearing cases in the state to extend the same protection.

"Should Alabama adopt HB 454, the Yellowhammer State may choose to re-interpret its own state constitution, but the legislation would bind courts to interpret the U.S. Constitution to confer due process or equal protection rights onto 'preborn children' or any other classes that have not been recognized on the federal level," said the report. "The idea of recognizing fetuses as legal persons with constitutionally-protected rights is nothing new in conservative circles. However, the Supreme Court has so far declined to interpret the Constitution as guaranteeing fetal personhood. Indeed, last October, the Court denied review in a case that would have allowed fetuses the right to sue in court."