Alabama Governor Kay Ivey Signs strictest US abortion ban into law Wednesday May 15,2019

Alabama's governor signed a bill on Wednesday May15,2019 to ban nearly all abortions in the state, even in cases of rape and incest, in the latest challenge to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy

U.S. abortion rights activists had already vowed to go to court to block enforcement of the Alabama measure, the strictest anti-abortion law yet enacted with the intention of provoking reconsideration of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the measure a day after the Republican controlled StateSenate approved the BAN and rejected a Democratic-backed amendment to allow abortions for women and girls impregnated by rape or incest.

"To the bill’s many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God," 

Ivey said in a statement.

Abortion supporters across the country condemned the bill as part of a Republican-backed assault on the rights of women to control their own bodies.

"This is the war on women," said California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, "It's in full swing, and it's decades in the making."

The Alabama law would take effect in six months.

Legislation to restrict abortion rights has been introduced this year in 16 states, four of whose governors have signed bills banning abortion if an embryonic heartbeat can be detected.

Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio enacted statutes this year outlawing abortion after a doctor can detect an embryonic heartbeat.


Roe v. Wade did allow states to place restrictions on the procedure from the time a fetus could viably survive outside the womb, except in cases in which a woman's health was otherwise at risk. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks. 

A full-term pregnancy typically is about 40 weeks.