Pre-filed Alabama bill would require vasectomy as punishment for sex crimes

An Alabama lawmaker has pre-filed a bill for the 2026 legislative session that would require those convicted of rape and incest that results in a pregnancy to get a vasectomy or be castrated.

HB 46, sponsored by Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, would also allow a mother to get an abortion under the same circumstances. Givan said in an interview Wednesday that the bill is more about the broader conversation of bodily autonomy.

“We have already set a double standard,” Givan said. “Have you seen a bill crafted that tells a man what he cannot, what he can’t and cannot do with his body? You have not, outside of the standard laws that speaks to rape and incest, and we already know that that is definitely a crime.”

Robin Marty, a longtime abortion advocate and executive director of a clinic that was once Alabama’s largest abortion provider, opposes the bill.

“As somebody who spends all of her time helping people access reproductive health care, It is just as terrible to create a bill that would take away the reproductive autonomy of a man as it is to have no abortion allowed for a person who can become pregnant,” Marty said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

In 2020, Rep. Rolanda Hollis, D-Birmingham, sponsored legislation that would require a man to get a vasectomy within a month of his 50th birthday or the birth of his third biological child. It was not considered. The Alabama chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the legislation, though it did not cite a specific reason for opposition.

ACLU referred comments to the Southern Poverty Law Center, who did not have an expert available. 

Givan’s bill would apply the punishment regardless of the defendant’s age. She said that there needs to be more accountability on those convicted of sex crimes.

“If we can certainly tell a woman what to do with her body, then we should be able to tell a man he should be held accountable for what he does with his,” Givan said. 

Marty agreed with Givan’s sentiment on accountability, but said that can’t be achieved by causing more harm.

“That’s not a wrong that can be fixed by saying ‘here, look, we’re going to harm you as well,’” Marty said.

The Legislature begins its 2026 session in January.