A bill that would prohibit health providers from discriminating against an individual with disabilities in determining whether they will receive an organ transplant passed in the Alabama House on Tuesday.

According to the National Down Syndrome Society, a nonprofit advocacy organization, organ transplant discrimination against those with disabilities can be significant, with a 2008 study finding that 43% of organ transplant centers saying that they “always” or “usually” consider whether a child has a disability when deciding whether to place them on their organ transplant list.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wood, R-Valley, who has introduced similar bills in past sessions that have failed to pass.

“I’ve been working on this bill almost five years, so I get a little emotional,” Wood said. “Historically, individuals with mental or physical-based disabilities have been denied life-saving organ transplants based on assumptions that their lives are less worthy.”

The only House member to speak on the bill was Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, who asked Wood if she could share any data on the frequency of organ transplant discrimination against those with disabilities in Alabama. Wood shared a personal anecdote about an individual in her community who had faced such discrimination but said that she did not have broader data on the frequency of such cases.

The bill ultimately passed with a vote of 101-0, with one abstention, and later received 72 co-sponsors.