Lady Gaga condemns ‘heinous’ Alabama abortion ban: ‘This is a ‘travesty’
'I pray for all these women and young girls who will suffer at the hands of this system'
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Your support makes all the difference.Lady Gaga has joined the list of stars condemning Alabama’s strict new abortion laws, describing it as a "travesty".
On Wednesday, the state’s governor, Republican Kay Ivey, signed a bill banning almost all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest, one day after it was passed by the Alabama senate.
The only exception would be in the case of a serious risk to the mother’s health. Otherwise, abortion is a crime that is punishable by up to 99 years for any doctor who performs the procedure.
Writing on Twitter on Wednesday evening, Gaga described the ban as an “outrage”.
“And all the more heinous that it excludes those have been raped or are experiencing incest non-consensual or not, [sic]” she added.
The new law means that any physician who is convicted of performing an abortion in Alabama would be considered a Class A felon, putting their offence on par with murderers, kidnappers and rapists.
“So there’s a higher penalty for doctors who perform these operations than for most rapists?” Gaga continued.
“This is a travesty and I pray for all these women and young girls who will suffer at the hands of this system.”
The Born This Way singer’s tweet has been liked more than 52,000 times and garnered more than 15,000 retweets in addition to thousands of comments from people echoing her views.
“What is this ridiculous and horrendous law!? Have we gone back in time!?” wrote one person. “So abortion will be illegal even if you’re raped or incest is involved?! And the doctors will get a more severe punishment than a rapist!? WHAT IS GOING ON!? Poor Alabama, seriously.”
Another added: “Thank you for speaking up, this is really really important. We love you.”
Gaga’s tweet follows an Instagram post by Milla Jovovich on Tuesday in which the actor revealed she’d had an emergency abortion two years ago that was “one of the most horrific experiences” of her life.
“Abortion is a nightmare at its best,” she wrote. “No woman wants to go through that. But we have to fight to make sure our rights are preserved to obtain a safe one if we need to.”
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