The Alabama Senate on Tuesday voted 27-6 to approve a bill (SB 205) that would prohibit the location and licensure of abortion clinics within 2,000 feet of certain public schools, the Anniston Star reports.
The measure now proceeds to the state House (Lockette, Anniston Star, 3/22).
Background
The state House passed a similar bill (HB 527) last year, but that measure failed to advance in the state Senate (Women's Health Policy Report, 2/17).
The latest measure would ban abortion clinics "within 2,000 feet of a K-8 public school" (SB 205 text, accessed 3/22). According to the Star, the bill language does not specify whether the ban would apply exclusively to schools serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade or if it would apply to all elementary and middle schools regardless of the exact grade levels they serve (Anniston Star, 3/22).
If enacted, the bill would force the only abortion clinic in north Alabama to close (Women's Health Policy Report, 2/17). According to the Star, Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives is the sole clinic located in Huntsville, Alabama. Overall, including the Alabama Women's Center, the state has five clinics (Anniston Star, 3/22).
In 2014, Alabama Women's Center moved to its current location across from a middle school in response to a law imposing new building standard requirements on abortion care facilities (Women's Health Policy Report, 2/17).
Abortion provider condemns bill
Dalton Johnson, the owner and administrator of Alabama Women's Center, criticized the school bill, noting that it is another pointed attempt to close the clinic. Should the Supreme Court uphold an admitting privileges requirement in Texas' omnibus antiabortion-rights law (HB 2), the Alabama Women's Center would become the only abortion provider in the state that remains allowed to operate. According to the Montgomery Advertiser, Alabama lawmakers passed a similar admitting privileges requirement, which if permitted to take effect, would shut down all other clinics in the state.
Johnson said if the Supreme Court establishes precedent in a decision that upholds the Texas law, Alabama Women's Center "would have the only physician [who] would be able to do abortions in the state of Alabama" (Lyman, Montgomery Advertiser, 3/22). He added, "To make a long story short, [antiabortion-rights lawmakers are] trying to single us out and close us down" (Anniston Star, 3/22).
