Alabama Personhood Bill “Dead” On House Floor

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama personhood bill, which would have effectively banned abortion in the state, has failed to make it to a vote in the legislature.

Republican Ed Henry, the bill’s sponsor, says the bill is “essentially dead.” After House Democrats mounted a filibuster on Thursday, the House adjourned before getting to the bill.

Henry’s bill was a proposed constitutional amendment to legally define a fetus as a person from the moment of fertilization.

Opponents of the bill say it could have rendered some forms of birth control the “legal equivalent of homicide.”

Henry’s bill was similar to ballot measures voted down in Mississippi, Colorado and North Dakota in recent years.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2012 ruled a similar amendment unconstitutional.