By Matt Cantor Alabama’s state legislature has passed a bill placing tough new restrictions on abortion providers, and critics say it’s intended to shut down the five clinics in the state, the New York Times reports. The bill is headed for Gov. Robert Bentley‘s desk today; he has said he’ll sign it. Its… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Health
By The Huffington Post News Editors
By Verna Gates
BIRMINGHAM, Ala, April 2 (Reuters) – The Alabama Senate passed an abortion bill on Tuesday critics say would limit access to the procedure with stricter requirements for clinics that provide it.
The Senate passed the bill on a vote of 22-10, after the House passed a similar bill in February. A committee will reconcile the two bills before the proposed legislation goes to the Alabama Governor, Dr. Robert Bentley, who is expected to sign it into law.
A similar bill in Mississippi is threatening to close the state’s lone abortion clinic, as a federal judge ponders its future after the clinic filed a lawsuit. The Alabama bill follows passage of new anti-abortion laws in North Dakota and Arkansas in the past month.
The Alabama bill, called The Women’s Health and Safety Act, would mandate that an Alabama-licensed physician be present at every abortion and those doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at local hospitals.
Most clinics hire out-of-town physicians to provide abortion procedures and partner with local doctors who have hospital admitting privileges to provide follow-up care.
Critics say the bill would make it difficult or impossible for the clinics to do business.
“This legislation will make it harder to access health care, which will put women’s health in danger,” said Planned Parenthood Southeast Vice President of Public Policy Nikema Williams, following the vote to pass the bill.
The bill would also require reporting the name of the baby’s father to law enforcement if the abortion is performed on a minor less than 16 years of age.
Alabama has four remaining abortion clinics, since the clinic bombed by Eric Rudolph lost its license to operate on May 18, 2012. Rudolph, who killed two people and injured 150 others in a series of bombings in the late 1990s, is incarcerated in the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
State Sen. Harri Anne Smith, an independent and one of Alabama’s five …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
A 5-year-old boy who was being held hostage in an underground bunker in Alabama for nearly a week has been released while his abductor is now dead, authorities said Monday.
In a press conference Monday night, FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson told reporters the little boy had endured a lot and that he was receiving medical treatment. “The boy is laughing, joking, playing, he’s eating; he’s very brave, he’s very lucky, and the success story is that he is out safe and doing good,” he said.
Richardson was unable to clarify any other details as the incident is still being investigated.
Police say 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes shot and killed a bus driver last week in Midland City and then abducted the boy.
Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said late Monday that Dykes was armed when officers entered the bunker to rescue the child. He said the boy was threatened but declined to elaborate.
“That’s why we went inside — to save the child,” he said.
Olson and others declined to say how Dykes died. But an official in Midland City, citing information from law enforcement, said police had shot Dykes.
The official requested anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
FBI bomb technicians were clearing the property for explosive devices and planned to look more closely at the scene when it’s safe, FBI spokesman Jason Pack said.
“The most important thing is we have a safe recovery of a child,” said Col. Hugh McCall, director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley thanked law enforcement officials, first responders and other personnel who assisted in the hostage recovery effort.
“I am so happy this little boy can now be reunited with his family and friends,” Bentley said in a statement. “We will all continue to pray for the little boy and his family as they recover from the trauma of the last several days.”
Melissa Nighton, city clerk in Midland City, said a woman had been praying in the town center Monday afternoon. Not long after, the mayor called with news that Dykes was dead and that the boy was safe.
“She must have had a direct line to God because shortly after she left, they heard the news,” Nighton said.
Michael Senn, pastor of a church near where reporters had been camped out since the standoff began, said the boy was always on his mind.
“So when I heard that he was OK, it was just like a thousand pounds lifted off of me,” he said.
Throughout the ordeal, authorities had been speaking with Dykes though a plastic pipe that went into the shelter. They also sent food, medicine and other items into the bunker, which apparently had running water, heat and cable television but no toilet. It was about 4 feet underground, with about 50 square feet of floor space. The little boy requested Cheez-Its and a red Hot Wheels car, both of which were delivered to the bunker.
On Sunday, more than 500 people paid final tribute to the driver that was killed, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., hailing him as a hero for protecting the other children on the bus.
Poland is now “an angel who is watching over” the little boy, said Dale County School Superintendent Donny Bynum, who read letters written by three students who had ridden on Poland‘s bus. “You didn’t deserve to die but you died knowing you kept everyone safe,” one child wrote.
Outside the funeral, school buses from several counties lined the funeral procession route. The buses had black ribbons tied to their side mirrors.
Dykes grew up in the Dothan area. Mel Adams, a Midland City Council member who owns the lot where reporters are gathered, said he has known Dykes since they were ages 3 and 4.
He said Dykes has a sister and a brother, but that he is estranged from his family.
Adams said he didn’t know what caused the falling-out, but that he knew Dykes “had told part of his family to go to hell.”
Dykes, also described as a loner who railed against the government, lived up a dirt road outside a tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeast corner of the state. His home is just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away.
Government records and interviews with neighbors indicate that Dykes joined the Navy in Midland City, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969. His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. During his service, Dykes was trained in aviation maintenance.
At some point after his time in the Navy, Dykes lived in Florida, where he worked as a surveyor and a long-haul truck driver. It’s unclear how long he stayed there.
He had some scrapes with the law there, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.
Dykes returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbors, Michael Creel and his father, Greg.
“He said he lived in Florida and had hurricanes hit. He wanted someplace he could go down in and be safe,” Creel said. Authorities say his bunker is about 6 feet by 8 feet, and the only entrance is a trap door at the top.
Neighbors described Dykes as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a firearm. Michael Creel said Dykes had an adult daughter, but the two lost touch years ago.
The Dykes property has a white trailer which, according to Creel, Dykes said he bought from FEMA after it was used to house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The property also has a steel shipping container — like those on container ships — in which Dykes stored tools and supplies.
Next to the container is the underground bunker where authorities say Dykes holed up with the 5-year-old. Neighbors say that the bunker has a pipe so Dykes could hear people coming near his driveway. Authorities were using the ventilation pipe to communicate with him.
The mother of the 5-year-old boy was ‘hanging on by a thread,’ during the standoff, said a local politician who visited the woman.
State Rep. Steve Clouse, who represents the Midland City area, said the mother told him that the boy has Asperger’s syndrome as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News