Alabama lawmaker sparks backlash for 'kill them now or kill them later' comments over state abortion bill

"Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or kill them later," Democratic state Rep. John Rogers said Tuesday before the bill's vote in the House, according to video from WVTM-TV. "You bring them into the world unwanted, unloved, then you send them to the electric chair. So you kill them now or you kill them later."

"But the bottom line is that I think we shouldn't be making this decision," he said in arguing against House Bill 314, which would make abortion a felony for doctors with a sentence of up to 99 years in prison.

Rogers' comments came as he argued the House bill's lack of exception for rape or incest is "atrocious."

"I'm not about to be the male to tell a woman what to do with her body," he said. "She has a right to make that decision herself."

CNN has reached out to Rogers.

He defended his statement in an interview with AL.com, arguing that Alabama is "killing people every day" by closing rural hospitals, its high prison homicide rate and lack of Medicaid expansion.

"So why do you want to bring these people in the world and then deny them right to process and live in Alabama?" Rogers said Thursday.

Republican state Rep. Terri Collins, the main sponsor of the bill, told CNN on Thursday of Rogers' comments, "I was shocked when he said it" and "I thought they were extremely inappropriate."

Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed, a Republican, said in a statement that Rogers' remarks were "chilling" and called for the comments to be condemned "at the state and national level."

HB 314, which its Republican supporters hope could spark a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, passed the GOP-controlled House on Tuesday in a 74-3 vote. It is now being considered by the state Senate.