In downtown Birmingham, as a near-total ban on abortion looms, Planned Parenthood is constructing a new women's clinic.

The new building will be state-of-the-art with several exam rooms and offices, Barbara Ann Luttrell, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, told the Associated Press.

"We are a doctor that Birmingham has counted on for decades, and we are committed to continuing to provide that care,” she said to the AP.

The project began in January and has not come to a halt, even in the face of the passage of the Alabama Human Life Protection Act by the state's Republican-controlled legislature, which will ban abortion unless the life of the mother is on the line.

The new law would make providing an abortion to a pregnant woman at any stage a felony with a resulting punishment of up to 99 years in jail. The law does not target pregnant women directly, but instead, their providers.

In May, Alabama's second female governor, Kay Ivey, signed the act into law, nearly guaranteeing legal changes to come.

"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 the statement.

The bill though, she said in the statement, will likely be unenforceable as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.

Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union are among organizations that are suing to stop the passage of the law, on the basis that it is unconstitutional and a threat to women's health.

Anti-abortionists are hoping that the action by pro-choice organizations to block the law from passing will encourage the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

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Right now, the new center stands as a skeletal structure with a roof, but construction could be complete by November, around the same time the law could come into effect, according to the AP.

Abortion opponents, whether the law goes through or not, are looking to convince the Alabama Department of Public Health to stop Planned Parenthood by denying them a license.

Anti-abortion activists have also called and emailed workers on the site in attempts to get them to refuse to work on the building, the Rev. Terry Gensemer of Metro Birmingham Life Forum told the AP.

“My question is, after the bill passage, why are they continuing to be so aggressive when the possibility exists that they won’t be able to be in business?” Gensemer told the AP.

Luttrell told the AP that she hopes the law gets blocked before the clinic is complete.

Follow Morgan Hines on Twitter: @MorganEmHines.