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Abortion Bill Dead on House Floor

State House
Alabama House of Representatives

A bill in the Alabama Legislature that would have effectively banned abortion in the state has failed to make it to a vote during the current legislative session.

Bill sponsor Representative Ed Henry (R) says the bill is "essentially dead". House Democrats mounted an effective filibuster earlier this week, and the House of Representatives adjourned before voting on the bill.

The proposal was a constitutional amendment that would have legally defined a fetus as a person from the moment of fertilization. Opponents of the measure say it could have rendered some forms of birth control the "legal equivalent of homicide", as well as effectively banning all forms of abortion in Alabama.

The bill was similar to measures that were recently voted down in Mississippi, Colorado and North Dakota. In 2012, a similar measure passed the legislature in Oklahoma but was then declared unconstitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

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