{"id":5504,"date":"2025-05-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=5504"},"modified":"2025-05-05T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:00:00","slug":"alabama-cant-prosecute-groups-helping-patients-get-abortions-elsewhere-judge-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=5504","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Can\u2019t Prosecute Groups Helping Patients Get Abortions Elsewhere, Judge Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reproductive rights groups in Alabama wasted no time resuming their work after a federal judge ruled in early April that the state\u2019s attorney general can\u2019t prosecute<\/a> \u2014 or threaten to prosecute \u2014 people or organizations who help Alabama residents seek an abortion by traveling to another state.<\/p>\n

One of the plaintiffs, the reproductive justice nonprofit Yellowhammer Fund<\/a>, wasted no time in returning to one of its core missions: to provide financial support to traveling patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision came at about 5:30. I think we funded an abortion at 5:45 \u2014 because that\u2019s how severe the need is, that\u2019s how urgent it is that we get back to the work that we\u2019re doing,\u201d said Jenice Fountain, executive director of Yellowhammer Fund, which advocates for abortion access.<\/p>\n

On April 2, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether South Carolina can remove Planned Parenthood clinics<\/a> from the state\u2019s Medicaid program. This came just days after Planned Parenthood received notice that the Trump administration w<\/a>ould<\/a> <\/a>withhold<\/a> funding<\/a> from the Title X Family Planning Program for nine of the group\u2019s affiliates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just seeing kind of a multiplying of conflicts where we have unanswered questions about the meaning of the First Amendment in this context, about the right to travel in this context, about due process in this context \u2014 about these sort of clashing state laws and choosing which one applies,\u201d said Mary Ziegler<\/a>, a law professor at the University of California-Davis who specializes in the politics and history of reproductive rights.<\/p>\n

Alabama has one of the strictest bans<\/a> on abortion<\/a> in the country \u2014 with no exceptions for rape or incest. The law was \u00a0approved by the state legislature in 2019 and remained at the ready should Roe v. Wade<\/em> be overturned. It took effect immediately when the Supreme Court did just that on June 24, 2022, in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization<\/a> <\/em>decision.<\/p>\n

At the time, Yellowhammer Fund was getting about 100 calls a week from people seeking financial help with getting an abortion, Fountain said.<\/p>\n

For more than two years, the organization has been unable to help such callers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing with the ban was it was so vague that it was incredibly hard to interpret, especially if you weren\u2019t a person that was legally inclined,\u201d Fountain said. \u201cSo the effect that it had, which was its intention, was a chilling effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

During that time, Yellowhammer continued to promote reproductive justice and maternal and infant health through community efforts such as distributing diapers, formula, menstrual supplies, and emergency contraception.<\/p>\n

Beyond the alarm created by the statutory language in Alabama\u2019s abortion ban, fears were stoked by Alabama\u2019s attorney general, Steve Marshall, Fountain said.<\/p>\n

Almost seven weeks after the 2022 Dobbs <\/em>decision, Marshall said in a radio interview that groups that assist people seeking an abortion in another state could face criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that this is a criminal law and the general principles that apply to a criminal law would apply to this, with its status of the Class A felony, that\u2019s the most significant offense that we have as far as punishment goes under our criminal statue, absent a death penalty case,\u201d Marshall said in the interview with Breitbart<\/a> TV editor Jeff Poor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortion out of state, then that is potentially criminally actionable for us,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n

Marshall was explicitly referring to such groups as Yellowhammer Fund, Fountain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe mentioned the group from Tuscaloosa that helps people get to care, which is Yellowhammer Fund,\u201d Fountain said. \u201cHe all but \u2018@\u2019d us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yellowhammer Fund and other abortion rights groups filed the lawsuit against Marshall<\/a> on July 31, 2023.<\/p>\n

In his ruling<\/a>, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson<\/a> of the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery, agreed with them, saying Marshall would be violating both First Amendment free speech rights and the constitutional right to travel if he tried to bring criminal charges.<\/p>\n

Thompson also warned against overlooking the \u201cbroader, practical implications of the Attorney General\u2019s threats,\u201d in the matter of Alabama trying to enforce laws outside the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example,\u201d Thompson wrote in his ruling, \u201cthe Alabama Attorney General would have within his reach the authority to prosecute Alabamians planning a Las Vegas bachelor party, complete with casinos and gambling, since casino-style gambling is outlawed in Alabama.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another group involved in the case, WAWC Healthcare<\/a> in Tuscaloosa (formerly West Alabama Women\u2019s Center), also resumed work that had been paused.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have spent the last few years worried that if we had provided any form of information to patients about where they could access a legal abortion, that that is something that the attorney general might try to prosecute us over,\u201d said Robin Marty, WAWC\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

Before the Dobbs<\/em> decision, <\/em>WAWCprovided abortion as part of its services. It continues to offer free reproductive health care, including prenatal care, contraception, and HIV testing.<\/p>\n

Clinical staffers at WAWC weren\u2019t allowed even to suggest to someone that they could leave the state to get an abortion, Marty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing harder than looking into somebody\u2019s face when they are in crisis and saying, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, I just can\u2019t help you anymore,\u2019\u201d Marty said. \u201cThat was really wearing on my staff because our job was to provide the best information possible. And to know that we could not give them the full care that they required was heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the ruling, WAWC can now offer \u201call-options counseling,\u201d which includes information on how and where patients can access abortion services in other states, Marty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they do not feel like they are able to continue the pregnancy, we can tell them, \u2018OK, you are this far along, so you are able to go this clinic in North Carolina, because you\u2019re under their limit\u201d for gestational age, \u201cor you can go to this clinic in Illinois because you\u2019re under their limit,\u2019\u201d Marty said. \u201cWe\u2019ll be able to tell them exactly where they can go and even be able to help them with the referral process along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attorney general could file an appeal, but now it\u2019s unclear whether his office will do so. Marshall\u2019s office did not respond to NPR\u2019s request for an interview, but in a statement said, \u201cThe office is reviewing the decision to determine the state\u2019s options.\u201d<\/p>\n

But legal expert Ziegler said she\u2019d be surprised if Marshall didn\u2019t file an appeal, given his office\u2019s vigorous defense in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

In addition, the potential political costs of pursuing that kind of prosecution may have eased, because states like Texas<\/a> and Louisiana<\/a> have already taken legal action regarding out-of-state abortion providers, said Ziegler.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the attorney general might not appeal because his office was the defendant in the lawsuit, and he may not want to draw attention to the case, Ziegler said.<\/p>\n

If Marshall did file an appeal, it would go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which Ziegler called conservative-leaning. The case could ultimately go to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ziegler said, which may have to weigh in more on abortion-related cases, such as when it temporarily allowed emergency abortions<\/a> in Idaho in June 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the takeaway is that the U.S. Supreme Court is going to be more involved than ever in fights about reproduction and abortion, not less, notwithstanding the fact that Roe<\/em> is gone,\u201d Ziegler said.<\/p>\n

This article is from a partnership that includes\u00a0Gulf States Newsroom<\/a>,\u00a0NPR<\/a>\u00a0and KFF Health News.<\/em><\/p>\n

KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Reproductive rights groups in Alabama wasted no time resuming their work after a federal judge ruled in early April that the state\u2019s attorney general can\u2019t prosecute \u2014 or threaten to prosecute \u2014 people or organizations who help Alabama residents seek an abortion by traveling to another state. One of the plaintiffs, the reproductive justice nonprofit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5504"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}