Judge rules Alabama cannot prosecute those who help with out-of-state abortions

Alabama’s attorney general cannot prosecute individuals and groups that help Alabama women travel to other states to obtain abortions, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

US district judge Myron Thompson sided with an abortion fund and medical providers who sued Alabama’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, after he suggested they could face prosecution under anti-conspiracy laws. Thompson’s ruling declared that such prosecutions would violate both the first amendment and a person’s right to travel.

Marshall has not pursued any such prosecutions. However, he said he would “look at closely” whether facilitating out-of-state abortions is a violation of Alabama’s criminal conspiracy laws. The ruling was a victory for the 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 or incest.

“It is one thing for Alabama to outlaw by statute what happens in its own 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,” Thompson wrote in the 131-page opinion.

Thompson said it would be the same as the state trying to prosecute Alabamians planning a Las Vegas bachelor party since casino gambling is also outlawed in the state.

The Yellowhammer Fund, an obstetrician 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,” Jenice Fountain, executive director of the Yellowhammer Fund, 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”.