Exactly one week after a male-dominated Alabama State Senate voted 25-6 to essentially ban abortion in the state and to penalize doctors performing the procedure more severely than convicted rapists, scores of "#StopTheBans" actions are planned for noon on Tuesday at statehouses, town squares, and courthouses across the nation.
The legislation, proposed by a female legislator, and signed into law by a female governor, was approved by 25 white men against six dissenting women, all Democrats. The controversial bill is the most punitive attempt to reverse the landmark Roe v. Wade case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 that provided women a fundamental right to privacy when choosing whether to have an abortion. Since the court ruled the right to choose was a fundamental right, any challenges to legal abortions must be evaluated under the strict scrutiny standard, the highest degree of review in American jurisprudence.
A website, stopabortionbans.org, provides a U.S. map showing when and where rallies are scheduled. While most events are planned for Tuesday, some have been scheduled on other days throughout the week.
The map showed events planned in nearly every state, with only a few exceptions, including Utah, Kansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Events may be planned in these states that haven't been posted to the web site.
