Major win for abortion rights in US after new ruling

A federal judge has ruled that Alabama’s attorney general can’t prosecute people who help women travel to other states to obtain abortions in a major win for women’s rights.

US District Judge Myron Thompson sided with an abortion fund and medical providers who sued Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall after he suggested they could face prosecution under ‘anti-conspiracy’ laws.

But the new ruling has found that any prosecutions against those who help women travel to get abortions in other states would violate the First Amendment and a person’s right to travel.

Mr Marshall said he would ‘look closely’ at whether facilitating out-of-state abortions is a violation of Alabama’s criminal conspiracy laws.

The ruling was a victory for Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion assistance fund that had paused providing financial assistance to low-income people in the state because of the possibility of prosecution.

Alabama bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape and incest.

50% of states in America which have abortion bans do not have exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

These include Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.

Mr Thompson wrote in the 131-page opinion: ‘It is one thing for Alabama to outlaw by statute what happens in its backyard.

‘It is another thing for the state to enforce its values and laws, as chosen by the attorney general, outside its boundaries by punishing its citizens and others who help individuals travel to another state to engage in conduct that is lawful there but the attorney general finds to be contrary to Alabama’s values and laws.’

Mr Thompson said it would be the same as the state trying to prosecute people from Alabama planning a Las Vegas bachelor party because casino gambling is also outlawed in the state.

The Yellowhammer Fund and others had filed lawsuits seeking a court declaration that such prosecutions are not allowed.

‘Today is a good day for pregnant Alabamians who need lawful out-of-state abortion care,’ Yellowhammer Fund executive director Jenice Fountain said in a statement.

‘The efforts of Alabama’s attorney general to isolate pregnant people from their communities and support systems has failed.’

A spokesperson for the Alabama attorney general’s office said ‘the Office is reviewing the decision to determine the State’s options.’

In June 2022 overturned its landmark Roe v Wade decision that established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide.

The ruling left abortion rights to be determined by the states.

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