So much happened this week.  Instead of focusing on just one item, I want to touch on several legislative matters because it was – and is – a crazy time. We faced an onslaught of anti-choice (abortion) bills – five in one day to be exact. States cannot just outlaw abortion because it would in effect be a stab to the heart of the U.S. Constitution.  Therefore, they implement approaches of slow death to a woman’s right to choose by many little and not-so-little cuts.

One bill would make taking birth control pills illegal, and a woman who miscarried or used pills for birth control could be charged with manslaughter or murder.  A third bill outlaws insurance for abortion unless the woman buys a separate insurance rider.  A fourth bill dovetails with the third bill and provides that if any federal health care coverage provides for abortion coverage, Alabama women are mandatorily opted out of it.  The fifth bill was more of the same.  It requires a doctor to give a woman an ultrasound and force her to look at the films before she can have an abortion.   This sounds good, but Alabama already has a law mandating ultrasounds before abortions.

A second struggle involved redistricting of congressional and State Board of Education seats.  After two weeks of public hearings in five cities, bills filed openly with the Senate, consideration before committee, and some debate on the Senate floor, a brand new as-yet-unseen substitute congressional redistricting bill suddenly appeared. Then we had an out-an-out fight because the substitute was presented after debate was cut off.  As I understand the Senate Rules, a substitute cannot be allowed after a vote on cloture, which cuts off debate on whatever is before the Senate.  The budgets – Education Trust Fund and General Fund – were also enmeshed in this crazy time.

vvI was on the three-member Senate Conference Committee, but it was as if I wasn’t even there.  I was unable to talk with anyone about proposed changes to the budget until three minutes before the Conference Committee met.   When this provision was discovered, the Budget couldn’t pass the House. I arrived at 9:28 p.m. for the 9:30 p.m. meeting.  However, they had already met and were coming out of the room at 9:29 p.m.  It was – and is – a crazy time.