As a pediatrician, I consider it a responsibility to speak up when I see a threat to healthcare in my state. Our Senate is reviewing four bills that would be harmful to patients, and Alabamians on both sides of the aisle have reason to be concerned.

First and most distressing, HB 493 addresses women who learn their fetuses have unsurvivable problems and will die during or shortly after birth. If they seek abortion, they must sign statements that they have been informed of perinatal hospice. There’s no argument perinatal hospice in these tragic circumstances can be of great benefit, and it is unfortunate no such services are available in our state. Even if we had them, the appropriate person to offer a referral would be the woman’s obstetrician, at the time of diagnosis. By the time she has already made the difficult decision, it is cruel by any definition to make her hear about a service she can’t get, wait another 48 hours, and sign a statement as if she is doing something wrong. The pain and grief of losing a wanted pregnancy is bad enough without the state piling on additional injury.

The second bill, HB 494, changes the parental notification abortion law for minors under age 19. We need the state to have safeguards for teens. Alabama requires signed permission from a parent or guardian, unless a judge—someone in a high position of trust—grants a waiver. The new bill would unnecessarily require a parent to appear in person at the clinic providing abortion, with a copy of the minor’s birth certificate. If the minor goes to court, an attorney can represent the fetus, and the minor’s parents can come with their attorneys—even if one or both parents has been abusive, and even if the girl’s father is the rapist who made her pregnant.

The third bill, HB 489, would double the current 24 hour waiting period. Even 24 hour waits increase traveling out of state and create a shift from first trimester abortions, with very low rates of complications, to second trimester, with significantly higher risks. Alabama has previously stated a desire to make abortions safer by regulating clinics—this would make them less safe, with no proven likelihood of decreasing abortions.

Finally, HB 490 would make abortion a felony if the physician detects a fetal heartbeat, usually possible by 10 weeks and sometimes at 6 weeks by vaginal ultrasound. A similar law in Arkansas was halted by a federal judge and is making its way through the appeals process. Considering the current Supreme Court has let Arizona’s 20 week ban be overturned on grounds of violating Roe v. Wade, I do not expect the same court will permit the heartbeat law to stand. For Alabama, this is a symbolic bill in an election year. I do wish we could use our limited resources to provide better medical services to the children already here.

Abortion remains an intensely divided issue, split equally between pro-choice and pro-life, then splintered in between. Some of us would issue civil rights to a fertilized egg, some after implantation, some to ectopic embryos, some to a fetus with a heartbeat, some at 20 weeks, some at 24 weeks, some to any fetus unless there was rape or incest, some to any fetus unless the mother’s life is in danger. Some see women forced by court order into unwanted c-sections and realize that for each right given to a fetus, one is removed from the mother. Some believe abortion is wrong and still value free will. There is no consensus.

Faced with such deep and emotionally charged controversy, I understand why the Libertarian Party platform reads, “[r]ecognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

I urge our leaders in Montgomery to table these harmful bills, and keep the government out of the relationship between a woman and her doctor. Instead, let’s focus on creating a better health care system for all Alabamians.

Pippa C. Abston, M.D., Ph.D., is a pediatrician who lives in Huntsville.

Email: pabston@aol.com.