Twenty-five white, middle-aged men in the US state of Alabama have voted to force a near-blanket ban on abortion .
Politicians in the Bible Belt state sent a bill imposing the strict legislation on terminations for governor Kay Ivey’s approval.
The only exception would be if a pregnancy puts the woman’s life at risk, not rape or incest.
The strictest laws of their type anywhere in the US were passed by a group of exclusively white, male Republicans.
Of the 27 Republicans senators who dominate the 35-seat Alabama senate, 25 voted to pass the Draconian bill.
Twenty-two voted to prevent making exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
Many female lawmakers described the passage of the Alabama bill as an assault on women’s rights, and an unconstitutional attempt to revert to a time of DIY abortions.
It’s feared it will disproportionately affect black and poor women – those more likely to seek abortions, and less likely to be able to fund a termination out of state.
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President Donald Trump’s White House has given encouragement to anti-abortion campaigners by making conservative court nominations and legal changes restricting reproductive freedom.
More than a dozen US states have sought to make abortion illegal after six weeks.
Campaigners have enacted a ban on all or most abortions in seven Republican-led states, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio and Georgia.
Missouri senators are set follow Alabama’s lead by preventing abortions once a foetal heartbeat can be detected – about six weeks into a pregnancy.
Republican Terri Collins, the Alabama bill’s sponsor, argued it recognised the “baby in the womb is a person”.
Democratic minority leader Bobby Singleton said: “You’ve got 27 men over on the other side ready to tell women what they can do with their bodies.”
Singleton brought three rape victims to the chamber and pointed out that under the proposed law, the doctor who performs an abortion can spend more time in prison than the rapist.
