Ocasio-Cortez blasts Alabama abortion law, solicits donations to Planned Parenthood

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday solicited donations for Planned Parenthood in the wake of Alabama’s state legislature passing one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion measures.

The Alabama bill, which awaits Gov. Kay Ivey’s (R) signature after passing the state senate 25-6 on Tuesday, bans the procedure in all cases except to save the life of the mother, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

{mosads}”That means a child who is raped will be forced to carry that pregnancy by their rapist to term. With a maximum penalty of 99 years in jail, Alabama will officially punish people who seek abortions more harshly than people convicted of rape,” Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign said in an email to supporters Wednesday.

“By jailing women who only seek to exercise their right, Alabama Republicans have taken yet another step towards pushing us back into the past — in their endless quest to return women to second-class citizen status,” she added.

The email notes that while 51 percent of Alabamians are women, only 15 percent of seats in both chambers of the state legislature are women. It also notes that all 22 state senators who voted against rape and incest exceptions are men.

The proposed law would criminalize abortion, allowing doctors found performing abortions in the state to face up to 99 years in prison. 

Ocasio-Cortez’s email described the legislation as “just the beginning,” citing bills recently passed in Ohio and Georgia that ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, or at about six weeks.

Ocasio-Cortez previously took to Twitter to lambaste such bills, noting that many women do not know they are pregnant at six weeks.

“Republicans refuse to acknowledge one fundamental truth: you can never ban abortion — you can only ban safe abortion,” the email stated.