Lili Loofbourow writes:

Shouts broke out on the Alabama Senate floor last Thursday when Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth tried to rush through a motion without a roll-call vote. If that sentence bored you—even with the shouting—you’ve already grasped something basic: The dullness of these procedures is why most of us have trouble understanding them or paying attention, even when there’s cheating involved. We should try. In this case, the motion would have removed an amendment—supported by some Republicans—to exclude cases of rape and incest from an abortion ban that had already passed the House. Ainsworth believes Americans impregnated by rapists should be made to give birth, so he tried to rush the motion through without a roll-call vote, bending the rules to get his way.

State Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton stalled the attempted circumvention through sheer force of will, shouting his objections until the vote was delayed. But this is not a happy story: The controversial bill ended up passing the Senate on Tuesday night—with no exceptions included—and will go to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk. Its intention is to strip Americans of a constitutional right, on the assumption that a friendly Supreme Court will soon declare that removal legal. The path to that end point is not short, but neither is it far-fetched. It will take only one of these abortion bans to survive the ultimate judicial challenge for Americans with uteruses to be forced by the state to carry fetuses against their will. [Continue reading…]

Greg, Greg, Jabo, Jim, Tim, Tom, Del, Arthur, Andrew, Larry, Sam, Steve, Clay, Randy, Danny, Shay, Gerald, Garlan, Will, Jack, Clyde, Chris, Donnie, David. Meet the 25 #Alabama bros who don't give a shit about how many women's lives they harm. #RoeVWade https://t.co/UXPbb4Ni7l

— Amy Maxmen (@amymaxmen) May 15, 2019