An Alabama judge ruled Tuesday that the state can’t prosecute individuals who help a person obtain an abortion out-of-state. The ruling effectively allows pro-abortion groups to promote and fund abortion travel.
Nearly all preborn children in Alabama are protected from abortion due to state law. In 2022, Attorney General Steve Marshall made statements indicating that pro-abortion entities could face charges for aiding residents in getting abortions over state lines.
“If someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortions out of state, then that is potentially criminally actionable for us,” he said in 2023, continuing:
One of the things we will do in working with local prosecutors is making sure that we fully implement this law. There’s nothing about that law that restricts any individual from driving across state lines and seeking an abortion in another place.
However, I would say that if an individual held themselves out as an entity or a group that is using funds that they are able to raise to facilitate those visits, then that’s something we’re going to look at closely.
Those statements led to several lawsuits, including a 2023 lawsuit by two pro-abortion groups, which argued that the threat of prosecution violated their rights to free speech and the right to interstate travel.
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In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson sided with the abortion groups, calling the right to interstate travel “one of our most fundamental constitutional rights.”
“It is one thing for Alabama to outlaw by statute what happens in its own backyard,” Myron wrote in his decision. “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.”
Meagan Burrows, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, praised the decision.
“This should send a strong message to antiabortion politicians in states with bans,” Burrows said. “Any attempt to prevent their residents from traveling to obtain entirely legal reproductive health care will not stand.” Burrows indicated that she also hoped the ruling would “serve as good legal precedent we can rely on in other states where we see similar threats.”
A spokesperson from AG Marshall’s office said “the office is reviewing the decision to determine the State’s options” with regard to an appeal.
