Alabama Dem John Rogers' Sick Comment On Abortion Invites Backlash

The Alabama House of Representatives passed an anti-abortion bill Tuesday that criminalizes abortion at any stage of a pregnancy, except in case where the life of a woman is threatened. As the bill, which was voted for by 74 Republican representatives and opposed by 3 Democratic House members, heads to the state Senate, comments from Democratic State Representative John Rogers from Birmingham during the debate has provoked a major backlash.

“Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later," Rogers said according to the Alabama Political Reporter. "You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later.” He also said that some children face abortion could be well ‘retarded’ and ‘half-deformed.’

In a tweet Donald Trump Jr. described the comments as "stomach curling."

Henry Rodgers, a reporter at the Daily Caller, tweeted ‘This man is sick in the head. Absolutely disgusting.’

The bill makes performing an abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony, and says doctors performing abortions would be jailed upto 99 years if convicted.

The bill’s sponsor representative Terri Collins (R-Decatu), said: “The heart of this bill is to confront a decision that was made by the courts in 1973 that said the baby in the womb is not a person. This bill addresses that one issue. Is that baby in the womb a person? I believe our law says it is.”

Republicans hold a majority in the Alabama Senate and, if passed, the bill will challenge the landmark Roe v. Wade legal decision from 1973, which effectively legalized abortion across the United States.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama (ACLU) has said it will sue once the bill gets signed into law.