As someone who lives in the south, I firmly believe that there is no state more conservative than Alabama. In the last state election, there was about a 30 percent democratic outcome (if not less) and conservatives won all across the board with about a 70 percent outcome (if not more).
Needless to say, Alabama is a deep red state and it's extremely hard to vote anyone who is a progressive into office, and the citizens of Alabama suffer in the process, whether they realize it or not.
Alabama is one of the ONLY states not to have a state lottery that could easily fund the education system that so severely lacks already. All over Alabama, many citizens and the government itself refuses to acknowledge the rights of the LGBTQ community. And of course, the population, including those who run our government, is densely pro-life.
So, no, none of us are surprised that these laws passed. Frustrated? Yes. Suprised? No. These abortion laws were easily passed because most of actually Alabama wanted these laws, and Kay Ivey knew that.
If Ivey wants to continue to be in the office, she has to give the citizens of Alabama what they want, no matter how uneducated most of the population is that demand these laws in the first place (being the second to last worst state when it comes to education).
The people who I am surrounded by every day in my college classes (in Alabama), people who are actually educated and have opened their minds to what others have to say, usually agree that banning abortion is not the way to go, even if they don't like the idea or wouldn't get one themselves. Yet, those who refuse to educate themselves (or seem to not be very educated at all) seem to have the loudest opinion; all I have to do is look at my newsfeed to prove it.
Maybe insulting conservatives isn't the way to go, but it can be extremely frustrating. As someone who grew up around an all conservative family but has mostly liberal views, I'm good at seeing both sides of the argument, but more than that, I can easily see whether or not someone has actually opened themselves up to the other side of the argument.
What a lot of people fail to educate themselves on the most is that you aren't taking away a "life" until it is an actual fetus, I'm talking about an embryo one-fifth the size of a period at the end of this sentence. It doesn't even have a blood supply and it takes about five minutes to perform.
The worst part about Alabama's new abortion laws is, without a doubt, forcing a woman to carry out pregnancy in cases of both rape and incest. Even conservative heroes like Tomi Lahren and Donald Trump disagree with this. I don't think I have to explain why this is horrible, and if you don't understand why, you're probably a lost cause anyway.
Also, don't try and make the argument of separation of church and state to an Alabama conservative. As far as the Alabama government goes, separation of church and state doesn't exist. I mean, what did you expect from a bible belt state?
Abortion is a touchy subject. No one takes a happy stroll to the abortion clinic, gets it done, and then goes on their happy way as if nothing happened. Every situation is different, usually traumatic, and most people have good reason to do so and don't just use it as a method of birth control.
Nonetheless, the citizens of Alabama won't hear any of it. Luckily, the laws won't go into effect until November, and hopefully, something will be done before then to protect the rights of women in Alabama. These laws have always been rejected in the past because it violates basic human rights, so let's hope the federal government continues to see it that way.
