---
type: "Bill"
title: "Abortion, physicians, duty of care owed to babies born alive after failed abortion, criminal penalties, definitions further provided"
description: "Abortion, physicians, duty of care owed to babies born alive after failed abortion, criminal penalties, definitions further provided"
jurisdiction: "us/states/al"
legislature: "Alabama Legislature"
session: "2021rs"
identifier: "HB 237"
citation: "Alabama HB 237 (2021rs)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Abortion"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Shaver"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2021-02-02T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/788eb262-bfcd-4153-bb62-f8bfce6613e1"
source_url: "http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/Alison/SESSBillStatusResult.aspx?BILL=HB237"
source_hash: "9105ecffece5b68c22483c6ebf22bb7d71ddaa618a46f541e3ae2e56080433aa"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-al"]
---

# Alabama HB 237 (2021rs) — Abortion, physicians, duty of care owed to babies born alive after failed abortion, criminal penalties, definitions further provided

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/ALISON/SearchableInstruments/2021rs/PrintFiles/HB237-int.pdf)
2. **Amd/Sub 210641-2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/ALISON/SearchableInstruments/2021rs/PrintFiles/210641-2.pdf)
3. **Amd/Sub 210877-1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/ALISON/SearchableInstruments/2021rs/PrintFiles/210877-1.pdf)
4. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/ALISON/SearchableInstruments/2021rs/PrintFiles/HB237-eng.pdf)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/ALISON/SearchableInstruments/2021rs/PrintFiles/HB237-enr.pdf)

## Votes

- Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass adopted Roll Call 1457 — **31–0** (pass) · upper
- Motion to Adopt adopted Roll Call 483 — **75–13** (pass) · lower
- Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass adopted Roll Call 485 — **76–12** (pass) · lower
- Motion to Adopt adopted Roll Call 484 — **73–18** (pass) · lower
- Ledbetter motion to Previous Question adopted Roll Call 482 — **74–24** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Shaver — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-02-02T05:00:00+00:00** Read for the first time and referred to the House of Representatives committee on Judiciary `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-24T05:00:00+00:00** Read for the second time and placed on the calendar 2 amendments `reading-2`
- **2021-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** Judiciary 1st Amendment Offered `amendment-introduction`
- **2021-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** Ledbetter motion to Previous Question adopted Roll Call 482
- **2021-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** Motion to Adopt adopted Roll Call 483 `amendment-passage`
- **2021-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** Judiciary 2nd Amendment Offered `amendment-introduction`
- **2021-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** Motion to Adopt adopted Roll Call 484 `amendment-passage`
- **2021-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass adopted Roll Call 485 `passage`
- **2021-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** Engrossed
- **2021-03-30T04:00:00+00:00** Read for the first time and referred to the Senate committee on Healthcare `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-07T04:00:00+00:00** Read for the second time and placed on the calendar `reading-2`
- **2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00** Third Reading Passed `passage`
- **2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00** Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass adopted Roll Call 1457 `passage`
- **2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00** Passed Second House `passage`
- **2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00** Signature Requested
- **2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00** Enrolled
- **2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00** Clerk of the House Certification
- **2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00** Assigned Act No. 2021-502. `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-17T04:00:00+00:00** Forwarded to Governor on May 17, 2021 at 11:13 p.m. on May 17, 2021. `executive-receipt`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/788eb262-bfcd-4153-bb62-f8bfce6613e1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Alabama legislature records).