The Alabama House of Representatives this morning passed a bill defining sex as determined at birth, a move that opponents said would cause hardships for transgender people.

The so-called ‘What is a Woman?’ bill has already passed the Senate and now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey, who can sign it into law.

” I look forward to signing it into law to codify common sense,” Ivey posted on social media after the vote.

The House passed it by a vote of 77-12. Democratic representatives cast all of the no votes.

The bill is a priority for Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature and for Ivey, who mentioned it during her State of the State address last week.

SB79, by Sen. April Weaver, R-Brierfield, defines a female as someone whose reproductive system produces ova and a male as someone whose reproductive system produces sperm.

Transgender men and women, as well as others, have appeared at public hearings to speak in opposition to the bill.

They said it could lead to harassment and marginalization of transgender people.

Supporters of the bill said it is a commonsense measure and would protect the rights of women and girls to spaces reserved for females, such as restrooms and locker rooms.

“The purpose of this act is to bring clarity, certainty, and uniformity to the laws of Alabama regarding sex discrimination, equality of the sexes, and benefits or services specifically provided to males and men and to females and women,“ the bill says.

“This act applies wherever state law classifies individuals on the basis of sex or otherwise mentions individuals as being male or female, men or women, or boys or girls.

The Republican leadership in the House took the unusual step today of limiting debate on the bill to 10 minutes.

The usual procedure is to allow unlimited debate on bills, with the possibility of ending that debate through a cloture vote, which generally comes after a couple of hours of discussion.

Democratic lawmakers said putting the bill on a 10-minute limit was unfair to the people they are elected to represent.

Rep. Napoleon Bracy Jr., D-Saraland, said tight limits on debate should be used only for noncontroversial bills.

“It’s a very controversial topic,” Bracy said. “And to me, 10 minutes doesn’t get it, what it deserved.”

Rep. A.J. McCampbell, D-Livingston, said every House member represents at least 48,000 people in their districts and should be able to debate legislation.

“It’s not a problem with the bill, it’s a problem with this process,” McCampbell said.

Rep Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn, who chairs the House Rules Committee that puts together the daily House agenda, said the short time debate was because it would be a busy day for committee meetings.

“Our time is restricted,” Lovvorn said. “We need to move through some legislation so we can be done in time for our committees to meet.”

“This is a rarity just because of the timelines we’re under,” Lovvorn said.

Lovvorn also noted that the House debated and passed a similar bill last year.

“This is not a new discussion,” Lovvorn said. “It’s a discussion that’s been ongoing.”

Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, said Weaver’s bill needed a full discussion today.

“We are dealing with some things that we are not professional with,“ Warren said. ”And we’re making it law. We are going to cause more problems than we are trying to correct.”

Rep. Adline Clarke, D-Mobile, said lawmakers needed time to propose amendments and that 10 minutes would not allow that.

Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, asked Lovvorn if people deserved more than 10 minutes of a debate on an issue that would affect their lives.

Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, spoke for the bill today in the House. DuBose sponsored the “What is a Woman” bill that passed the House last year.

DuBose said there had been six public hearings on the bill.

DuBose said the bill was needed for clarity, uniformity, and certainty in the law.

“We have used the word ‘woman’ 149 times in our Alabma laws,” DuBose said. “When these words were passed it was assumed that these words were tied to biology. This bill clarifies the meaning of sex-based term in our statutes. It ensures that laws passed by the Legislature are applied as this body intended and not twisted by judges and bureaucrats.

“In Alabama, we have commonsense. We know what a woman is. We know that God created us, man or woman, that our sex is fixed and determined at birth.”