Alabama Voters Could Exclude Abortion Rights From Their State Constitution

Alabama voters will weigh in this November on an amendment that would prevent their state’s constitution from being interpreted as conferring the right to an abortion or funding for an abortion.

What the Referendum Does

Amendment 2 would change the Alabama Constitution to do the following:

• Declare that the state’s policy is to recognize and support “the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life.”
• “Ensure the protection of the rights of the unborn child in all manners and measures lawful and appropriate.”
• State that “nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.”

In Favor

Alabama’s Constitution shouldn’t be interpreted as conferring the right to an abortion or funding for an abortion. This amendment would ensure that’s the case without having any effect on abortion rights in the state.

Opposed

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, this change to Alabama’s Constitution could lead to the enactment of policies criminalizing certain abortions or prohibiting women on Medicaid from accessing reproductive care.

In-Depth

While this amendment wouldn’t have any immediate impact on access to abortions in Alabama, if the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade is overturned it’d prevent courts from ruling that the state constitution protects abortion rights.

Alabama is one of nine states that retained but didn’t enforce its pre-Roe ban on abortion (except as necessary to protect the life of the pregnant woman). If the landmark Supreme Court decision were overturned the state could resume enforcing that law.

This proposed constitutional amendment was referred to Alabama voters by the state legislature. The Alabama Senate passed the amendment on a party-line 25-7 vote, while the House approved it on a 73-24 vote in which only three Democrats crossed the aisle to vote in favor.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / ericsphotography)