Alabama's governor Kay Ellen Ivey on Wednesday signed a bill to ban nearly all abortions in the state, with no exceptions for rape or incest, challenging the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. According to the bill, doctors performing abortions would face up to 99 years in jail, sparking protests across the U.S. after the bill's signing. 

"To the bill's many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians' deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God," Ivey said in a statement.

However, the abortion supporters have different views, claiming it a flagrant violation of the right of women to choose a childbearing. Many ordinary Americans and celebrities stood up to be counted as a backlash against the most restrictive abortion bill in the U.S.

Singer Lady Gaga called the bill "an outrage" and "heinous" in a tweet. "So there's a higher penalty for doctors who perform these operations than for most rapists?" she posted.

"Abortion bans aren't just about controlling women's bodies. They're about controlling women's sexuality. Owning women," said Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in tweet. "It's a brutal form of oppression to seize control of the 1 essential thing a person should command: their own body."

In fact, abortion is a highly controversial topic in the world. Some people think that abortion is a right and a woman has the right to be the master of her own body, while opponents believe that abortion is murder and an undeniable crime. Medicine, morality, ethics, religion and politics all play a role in the issue of abortion around the world.

As far as the United States is concerned, abortion has always been a controversial topic. The root of the dispute is that the U.S. Constitution does not define whether the "fetus belongs to a person."

Abortion supporters across the country condemned the bill as part of a Republican-backed assault on the rights of women to control their own bodies, criticizing the assumption that unwanted pregnancies are because of a woman's irresponsibility. They also pointed to the large number of women have abortions because of sexual assault or because their lives are threatened. The argument is that Republicans consider the life and human rights of the fetus, but they do not care about the mother's life and her human rights.

According to an article published on the blog A Cup of Jo, politicians supporting the bill actually have a larger overall goal in mind. "Conservative states are passing more extreme abortion legislation right now for one major reason: the ultimate goal is get the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade ruling, and legalized abortion nationwide."

Compared with the politically striking controversy, the public has a certain consensus on abortion. Gallup polls show that between 1976 and 2018, about 22 to 24 percent of the public believe that “abortion is legal under any circumstances,”;15 to 21 percent think "abortion is illegal in all circumstances"; while about 50 to 60 percent of the public believe that "abortion is legal only under certain circumstances". This means that mainstream public opinion (up to 60 percent) tends to support pregnant women having the right to choose abortion in certain circumstances.

Among the proponents of the abortion bill, some hope to reduce the abortion rate by passing legislation. However, the realistic effect is doubtful.

For instance, Ireland, one of the countries with the harshest abortion laws in the world, regulated abortions were allowed only if the life of the pregnant woman was threatened or the fetus had died before birth. Due to strict abortion laws, many Irish women are forced to abort abroad. According to official data released by Ireland, more than 3,000 Irish women were having abortions abroad each year. Finally, the law was abolished by a referendum in 2018.

Alabama's law will become enforceable in six months, which means that the dispute will continue to exist and the results may change. Maybe the United States should leave the final decision to the pregnant woman because she is the one who must care about the child. No one in society can force a woman to birth a child she does not want to live with.

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