Alabama's Move Against Abortions Suffers Legal Blow

A group of Alabama healthcare providers have scored a legal win after a judge allowed a lawsuit to proceed.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent state Attorney General Steve Marshall from prosecuting those helping residents have an abortion in states where the procedure is legal.

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Alabama began enforcing a near total abortion ban right after the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had made state abortion bans unconstitutional. Abortion in the Yellowhammer State is illegal unless the life of the pregnant person is in danger, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

"This 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," U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson wrote in his ruling denying Marshall's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

"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 'especially difficult call,' including that it may violate the constitutional right to travel and freedom of expression," he added.

The lawsuit was filed by Alabama healthcare providers in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery last year after Marshall explicitly threatened those helping pregnant patients seeking an abortion out-of-state with felony charges. Volunteers helping Alabamians get abortions across state lines could face jail time due to the state's "accessory provisions" and "conspiracy provisions," Marshall said in August 2022.

"If someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortions out of state, that is potentially criminally actionable for us. If there are groups promoting this as part of their services, we will be taking a look at that," Marshall said during a radio interview on FM Talk 106.5, specifying that the Alabama law didn't prohibit Alabamians from traveling across state lines to receive an abortion.

Meagan Burrows, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, one of the groups behind the lawsuit, described the ruling as sending "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's threats once and for all," she said.

Newsweek contacted Marshall's office for comment by phone call early on Tuesday, outside of working hours, and left a message. ACLU of Alabama was contacted by email.

Update 5/7/24, 4:00 a.m. ET: This breaking news article was updated to offer more information on the story.