A House committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would ban abortion in Alabama in nearly all cases.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, would criminalize abortion in all cases, including those involving victims of rape and incest. A doctor performing an abortion could be charged with a Class A felony. A person attempting to perform an abortion would be guilty of a Class C felony. There would be no exceptions for rape and incest under the law.

"In 1973, the Supreme Court made a decision that legalized abortion," Collins told the committee Wednesday. "In my mind what that does is it kills an unborn child."

The measure passed on a voice vote over strong objections from committee Democrats and an hour of sometimes emotional testimony from proponents and opponents.

Abortions could be performed if a physician determines there is a “serious health risk” to the life of the mother. The determination would have to be confirmed with a written statement from a second physician. Abortions could also be performed in cases where a woman with a serious mental illness could take actions resulting in the death of her or her child.

Collins says the bill is intended as a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down state bans on first-trimester abortions. Similar challenges are being pushed forward in other Republican-controlled states.

Opponents said the legal challenge is unlikely to succeed, and could end up costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham, cited numerous health problems faced by the state, including high infant mortality rates.

"It is my opinion this will be a waste of taxpayer dollars that could ultimately go to addressing those real issues," he said.

According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, 6,768 women had abortions in Alabama in 2017. Of those, 4,270 — 63 percent — had already given birth before.

The committee hearing featured deeply personal testimony. Rachel Bryars, a senior fellow at the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, told the committee about the struggles she had when she experienced an unplanned pregnancy when she was 22 years old.

"Today looking at my beautiful, artistic, strong, unique, nearly 14-year-old daughter, I can barely fathom how she might have been erased from her existence had I followed my culture’s advice," she said.

Hevan Lunsford, a registered nurse from Prattville, told the committee about how she sought a late-term abortion after an ultrasound revealed that her unborn son would have experienced "catastophic and unavoidable suffering" had he been brought to term. She was required to go out of state due to existing restrictions on abortion, and her husband was unable to join her.

"My story is not hypothetical," she said. "Neither my child nor I would have benefited carrying him to term. These laws deeply hurt families like me. He was my baby and I loved him in a way a mother can. I chose abortion still. I made this choice out of love for my child."

Collins and Eric Johnston, who helped frame the bill, suggested that the purpose of the bill was to create a vehicle to challenge Roe v. Wade, and said some other situations could be addressed by future legislation. Collins said after the vote the reason there was no exception for rape or incest because she wanted to keep the bill's focus on whether the fetus is a person.

"If Roe v. Wade is overturned, and we as a state are able to come up with our own laws, then we as a state will have our own debates about what we want the law to look at," she said after the vote. "But for this one, I would like to keep it at the heart of the matter."

Opponents, though, cited several examples of rape and incest victims seeking abortions. Jenna King-Shepherd, who works as a clinic escort, told the committee of a 12-year-old who had been raped by a family member who had to wait six weeks for a judge to approve her abortion, as required under state law.

"When she got permission from the courts to have her procedure, she was 17 weeks pregnant at 12 years old," she said.

"But when she got permission from the courts to have her procedure, she was 17 weeks pregnant at 12 years old," she said. "She should be playing with Barbies. She should not be fighting the courts for her right to health care."

Rafferty pressed Collins on the issue of sexual assault in his comments.

"You're saying a 12-year-old child who's sexually abused be forced to carry this pregnancy to term," he said.

Collins said the bill was "focusing on the life within."

Several other challenges to Roe v. Wade are floating out of Republican-controlled legislatures. In a statement, Planned Parenthood Southeast (PPSE), which operates clinics in Birmingham and Mobile, said the bill was "part of a strategy to undermine Roe v. Wade nationally."

"Time and time again, the courts have confirmed abortion bans are unconstitutional, which means that if passed, this bill will wind up at the center of an expensive legal battle, costing Alabama millions of dollars that it just doesn’t have," PPSE President and CEO Staci Fox said in a statement. "Lawmakers should be spending that time and money expanding access to health care for Alabamians - not restricting it.”