The 2019 abortion ban passed by the Alabama Legislature was never supposed to be watered down, according to attorney Eric Johnston, the author of the ban.
Johnston, who as of 2019 had drafted more than 12 anti-abortion laws for the state, told Rightside Radio host and Alabama Policy Institute senior fellow Phil Williams that suggestions from legislators, including State Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur), the chief House sponsor of the 2019 law, to possibly add exceptions were not intended to be a part of the law he had drafted initially.
"[O]ur argument the entire time was is it does not matter how a child was conceived -- whether it is conceived out of wedlock, in wedlock, through rape, through incest, through artificial insemination -- if it is a child, it is in utero, and it is a person protected by law," Johnston said. "There is no reason to make a distinction for rape or incest. In fact, the percentages of conception through rape or incest are so low, they're almost non-existent. They're not something you really need to worry about."
"Those ideas came up from moderate Republicans probably back in the '80s where they were trying to make some progress on the abortion issue. They wanted to offer exceptions to get people on board. They're compromises that are political in nature, but it is not what the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition stands for. They didn't stand for it in the process of the passage of the law. And it's true, we wanted it to be a test case. We wanted to lay the predicate for getting a good case before the courts. As you said, it's the strongest law in the nation. It's the most pristine pure one that you could possibly have."
Johnston thinks this is a very serious issue.
"Why we would want to go back now and weaken that when we're on the verge of getting rid of 50 years of murdering children, you know -- I mean, that, Terri [Collins] and the pro-life community need to have a very serious discussion. I respect Terri very much, but this is a very serious issue," Johnston said.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com.
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