| Summary: | Marchers at the front are holding a banner that reads, "Hometown Action / Alabama's Rural Organizers." Other people are carrying signs, including "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be available at the gas station."; "Protect Reproductive Rights / Protect Women"; "Abortion 101 / Not your body!!! Not Your Business"; "Don't tread on Her"; "Alabama Doesn't Care About Women's Rights"; "Vote Them Out! / (Before They Take That Right Away from Us, Too!)"; "We Are Not Ovary-Acting"; "These White Men Are Dangerous"; "Gender Justice"; "Abortion Access for All. / ACLU"; "'The egg in the lab doesn't apply. It's not a woman. She's not pregnant.' / It was never about saving lives! / Talibama"; "This Is a Race Class & Gender Issue"; "Let's Turn Our Anger Into Action"; "My Body / My Choice / My right / My Voice / Pro-Choice"; and "Protect Safe, Legal Abortion." The event was held to protest Alabama's new abortion law (known as the Alabama Human Life Protection Act), which had been signed by Governor Kay Ivey the previous week. From the text of the act: "Relating to abortion; to make abortion and attempted abortion felony offenses except in cases where abortion is necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk to the unborn child's mother . . ." While the law stipulated that "a woman who receives an abortion will not be held criminally culpable or civilly liable for receiving the abortion," individuals performing (or attempting to perform) the procedure would be charged with a felony. Exceptions were made in the case of ectopic pregnancy or "lethal anomaly," but there were no such provisions for rape or incest. In October 2019, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to block the ban, which its proponents had expected. According to a statement issued by Attorney General Steve Marshall, "As we have stated before, the State's objective is to advance our case to the U.S. Supreme Court where we intend to submit evidence that supports our argument that Roe and Casey were wrongly decided and that the Constitution does not prohibit states from protecting unborn children from abortion."
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