Democrats release ad depicting Alabama Abortion law enforcement forcing women to take pregnancy tests

Democrats release campaign ad depicting Alabama Abortion law enforcement forcing women to take pregnancy testsShow more

It features two women driving a mile out from the state border when they are pulled over by law enforcement. The narrator says “Trump Republicans” want to criminalize young Alabama women who travel for reproductive care. The officer then asks the driver to step out of the vehicle and take a pregnancy test.

Several red-state officials, including in Oklahoma and Idaho, have moved to impose legal penalties and fines for transporting people seeking abortions over state lines. Gavin Newsom, who also has run abortion-related TV spots and billboards and is pushing to make California a legal “sanctuary” for abortions, has said the conditions in red states are “much more pernicious than they even appear.”

Abortion in Alabama is illegal. Historically, Alabama's abortion laws have evolved from strict regulations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to a period of liberalization following the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. However, Alabama has consistently enacted legislation aimed at restricting access to abortion.
In May 2019 Alabama passed one of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws, the Human Life Protection Act. This law sought to ban most abortions at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, only allowing abortions if there was a serious health risk to the mother. The law was granted an injunction until June 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, allowing the Act to go into effect. The remaining three abortion clinics in the state were ordered to cease operating.

On February 16, 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos used for in vitro fertilisation should be considered children.
The UAB Hospital and other providers ended their IVF treatments in response.
This is because couples are now allowed to create a lawsuit for the wrongful death of their embryos. This ruling raises questions about the status of frozen embryos, including whether they can be destroyed and the implications for pre-implantation genetic testing. The decision also intersects with broader debates around abortion and reproductive technology