Republicans in the Alabama Senate late Tuesday night passed a bill making nearly all abortions illegal, with the specific goal of having the law challenged in the courts and ultimately, they hope, overturning Roe v. Wade.

The “Human Life Protection Act” bans all abortions from the point of conception, with the only exclusion being in the case of “a serious health risk” for the mother. Abortions for rape and incest are also banned.

Doctors who perform an abortion in Alabama under the bill could be sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Republicans in the House passed the bill last week.

It now heads to Republican Governor Kay Ivey’s desk. She has yet to indicate if she will sign it.

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.

Image by Victoria Pickering via Flickr and a CC license

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on Monday issued what’s being called a “warning siren” Monday, strongly suggesting landmark civil rights cases, perhaps Roe v. Wade, or Planned Parenthood v. Casey, or maybe Brown v. Board of Education are increasingly likely to be overturned by the Trump-reshaped far-right SCOTUS.

“Today’s decision can only cause one to wonder which cases the Court will overrule next,” Breyer wrote in a dissent of a case handed down Monday, overturning decades of Supreme Court precedent.

Here’s one civil rights attorney’s quick explanation:

Supreme Court’s decision overturning 1979 precedent on sovereign immunity is most interesting for disregard majority gives stare decisis. As Justice Breyer says: “Today’s decision can only cause one to wonder which cases the Court will overrule next.” https://t.co/t2eH8GRNte pic.twitter.com/Ku3CTV8Uz3

— Sasha Samberg-Champion (@ssamcham) May 13, 2019

These bills are direct assaults on Roe v. Wade. Experts know if some will become law, will get challenged, and ultimately will wind up in the federal courts – which are growing increasingly conservative – and ultimately, at the Supreme Court.

It’s important to put Justice Breyer’s warning in context. As NBC News’s Heidi Przybyla notes, “More than 300 proposals to restrict abortion have been introduced in states between January and March of this year.”

👉🏻More than 300 proposals to restrict abortion have been introduced in states between January and March of this year. https://t.co/pO1WKkYRiO

— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) May 12, 2019

Many legal experts weighed in on Twitter, making clear Justice Breyer’s warning must be taken seriously.

Here’s CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin, saying Breyer’s warning means the Supreme Court case that found women have a right to abortion is “doomed.”

English translation of Justice Breyer’s dissent today in Hyatt: “Roe v. Wade is doomed.” #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/T2VoeYntRY

— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) May 13, 2019

Professor of Law, University of Michigan School of Law:

From Justice Breyer’s dissent in Franchise Tax Board. Hard not to read this as a veiled warning about Roe v. Wade. https://t.co/Sgt7CxA9sm pic.twitter.com/rdVbPTTkrt

— Nicholas Bagley (@nicholas_bagley) May 13, 2019

Former Obama White House Counsel’s Office attorney:

A Supreme Court Justice is never going to send a bigger warning siren than Breyer does in his dissent today. pic.twitter.com/uTc9gE5ZRZ

— Daniel Jacobson (@Dan_F_Jacobson) May 13, 2019

Attorney and writer at Slate:

Wow: Breyer hoists a red flag today, writing: “Today’s decision can only cause one to wonder which cases the Court will overrule next.”

And, as if to answer his own question, he cites Planned Parenthood v. Casey. https://t.co/jSNECiewwW pic.twitter.com/KA9vjOV9ol

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) May 13, 2019

Former Buzzfeed News Legal Editor:

Justice Breyer’s warning this morning is as stark as others are saying. https://t.co/1R7RmrQ5WP pic.twitter.com/jyZphTecpA

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) May 13, 2019

President, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:

The Supreme Court is on a perilous path.

We have 5 Justices who will abandon precedent and not be faithful to the principle of stare decisis.

Justice Breyer issued a dissent that makes clear the jeopardy that we are now in. He asks “which cases the Court will overrule next”? pic.twitter.com/Y1TuQXbygq

— Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) May 13, 2019

Reuters’ Supreme Court reporter:

Today, the Supreme Court overruled a 1979 precedent. Justice Breyer is clearly thinking of another 1970s precedent that might be overturned when he notes in dissent: “Today’s decision can only cause one to wonder which cases the court will overrule next”https://t.co/L6lW4Cs6fF

— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley) May 13, 2019

Image by Victoria Pickering via Flickr and a CC license

Ainsley Earhardt Suggests Disappearance of God in American Discourse Has Led to Shootings at Churches and Synagogues

“Fox & Friends” was very focused on God – specifically, the Christian God of the Bible – on Tuesday morning. In one segment the Fox News AM crew used the Bible to interpret the “top topics” of the day, while another focused on what the hosts and a guest claimed is the disappearance of God in America.

Using a week-old story about a Pennsylvania elementary school that has stopped saying, “God bless America” after the Pledge of Allegiance is read over the school’s PA system, “Fox & Friends” invited an attorney from an anti-LGBT Christian law firm on to offer his opinion.

“I’m wondering if they’re so upset about the phrase ‘God Bless America,’ is the school district there in Pennsylvania, that is frankly not too far away from where those flights went down on 9/11, are they going to get rid of the dollar bills that have in God we trust on them?” Jeremy Dys, the Deputy General Counsel for the anti-LGBT organization First Liberty, asked.

“Are they going to start punishing teachers for saying ‘God bless you’ to students that sneeze in the hallway? This is absurd and it should be treated as absurd. When people say ‘the grass is pink,’ it’s not based on any kind of reality, just like they say ‘God bless America is unconstitutional,’ there is no reality that supports that.”

“Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt was quick to weigh in.

“As a Christian my faith is extremely important to me. When I think about taking God out of America, it really saddens me because I feel like we need Him,” she said.

Earhardt appeared to suggest that less people saying “God bless America,” or invoking God’s name has somehow lead to more shootings in churches and synagogues.

“When you have shootings in synagogues, shootings in churches, and you have to get wanded before you walk in to a church now. Where have we come as a country? What’s going to happen if we continue to push this narrative to take God out of everything?”

Dys added, “I fear. I fear for our country, if we were to get rid of these things entirely.”

He called it “a danger to our society” if America gets rid of “any kind of utterance of religion in public.”

Watch:

Ainsley Earhardt: “When I think about taking God out of America, it really saddens me because I feel like we need Him.” It’s always interesting whose feelings matter in these debates and whose don’t. pic.twitter.com/blvt3LRalQ

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) May 7, 2019