Alabama

A 2012 Gallup poll found Alabama the most conservative state in the United States, with more than half of those polled self-identifying as conservative. This ideological bent is reflected in the state’s 2014 Healthcare Rights of Conscience Act that gives Alabama health care providers the right to refuse to participate in abortions, human cloning, human embryonic stem cell research, and sterilizations if their objections are submitted in writing and placed on file prior to being asked. Paradoxically, Alabama is also the site of exciting stem cell research and the home of the second-largest biotechnical research park in the nation. Highlighting the work done with adult stem cells has allowed the state’s research institutions to demonstrate that the conservative majority can support stem cell research without ...