Court Allows Alabama Abortion Support Lawsuit to Move Forward

Attempt by Alabama Attorney General Marshall to dismiss the case was rejected by a federal court

May 6, 2024 8:00 pm

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. 鈥 A federal court in Alabama issued a ruling allowing Alabama health care providers to continue their lawsuit aimed at preventing Attorney General Steve Marshall and district attorneys throughout the state from prosecuting those who assist Alabamians seeking to travel across state lines to access legal abortion care. A group of health care providers filed a lawsuit last year after Attorney General Marshall explicitly they could face felony charges for supporting patients in accessing legal out-of-state care. The attorney general鈥檚 attempt to get the case thrown out was rejected by the court today.

In the ruling, the court said: 鈥淭his case is simply about how a State may not prevent people within its borders from going to another State, and from assisting others in going to another State, to engage in lawful conduct there. Alabama can no more restrict people from going to, say, California to engage in what is lawful there than California can restrict people from coming to Alabama to do what is lawful here. In this sense, the case is not an 鈥榚specially difficult call.鈥 Dobbs v. Jackson Women鈥檚 Health Org., 597 U.S. 215, 346 (2022) (Kavanaugh, J., concurring). Therefore, the plaintiffs here correctly contend that the Attorney General cannot constitutionally prosecute people for acts taken within the State meant to facilitate lawful out of state conduct, including obtaining an abortion.鈥

Statement from Meagan Burrows, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 Reproductive Freedom Project:

鈥淭oday, a federal district court rejected the Alabama attorney general鈥檚 attempt to dismiss our challenge to his threats to prosecute our clients for providing information and support to those seeking to travel out of state to access legal abortion. Today鈥檚 ruling sends a strong signal to anti-abortion politicians that their efforts to prevent pregnant people in states with bans from obtaining the help they need to access legal, out-of-state abortion care are blatantly unconstitutional. We are pleased that the case will proceed and we can continue fighting on behalf of our clients to put an end to the attorney general鈥檚 threats once and for all.鈥

Statement from Alison Mollman, legal director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Alabama:

鈥淪ince the fall of Roe, Attorney General Marshall鈥檚 threats have forced our clients to choose between their own liberty and freedom, and their ethical responsibility to fully inform pregnant patients of their healthcare options out of state. Today's decision brings us one step closer to ensuring that healthcare providers can fulfill their ethical duties to their patients and to establishing that pregnant Alabamians can access comprehensive information about their legal healthcare options. We are proud to continue this important fight on behalf of our clients and their patients.鈥

In states where abortion bans are in effect, the ability of local health care providers to share information and recommendations for specific, trusted out-of-state abortion care providers, as well as information about where people can obtain financial and practical support resources to access out-of-state abortion care, is essential for helping patients to obtain a full range of vital care, and is a lifeline for patients who need abortion care.

If Attorney General Marshall can criminalize speech and assistance related to abortion, more pregnant people will struggle to find out-of-state care, and the financial and logistical support they need to obtain such care without the expertise and insights of their chosen health care provider. As a result, many will be significantly delayed in accessing the abortion care they need, and some may even be forced to give birth against their will. This could have deadly consequences for Alabamians, who are residing in a state that has one of the highest in the nation, and particularly for who make up a disproportionate share of maternal deaths.

The lawsuit, West Alabama Women鈥檚 Center, et al. v. Marshall, et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery by the 老澳门开奖结果 and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Alabama on behalf of West Alabama Women鈥檚 Center, Dr. Yashica Robinson, and Alabama Women鈥檚 Center. A similar case was filed in federal court by the Lawyering Project on behalf of the Yellowhammer Fund. The cases have since been consolidated.


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