The 2025 Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature has concluded. And over the past months, the ACLU of Alabama in its 60th year as an organization spent the session advocating to advance and safeguard the civil rights and liberties of all Alabamians.
We closely tracked more than 150+ bills concerning civil liberties and our team has worked with lawmakers, the media, and our coalition partners to communicate our priorities and educate on the impact we believe these bills can have. We focused on Immigration, Criminal Legal Reform, Gender Justice, Voting Rights, and Free Speech. In 2025, the Alabama Legislation and Advocacy Hub is one of the most visited pages on our website.
This session, we landed a historic win in the road to assuring every pregnant person in Alabama gets the reproductive care they need. The passage of the Alabama Maternal Healthcare Act, SB102, ensures every pregnant person can now access 60 days of prenatal care while they wait for Medicaid approval (also known as presumptive eligibility). This bill is a shining example of how we can turn the tide on Alabama’s ongoing maternal health crisis.
For our defensive agenda, we defeated a range of bad bills alongside our coalition partners. These bills threatened free speech, public safety, and academic freedom. These include:
- House Bill 244 – an extension of Alabama’s “Don’t Say Gay” law to 12th grade.
- Senate Bill 247 – the anti-protest bill.
- House Bill 178 – mandating the display of Ten Commandments in Public Schools and Universities
We also supported bills in criminal legal reform that have made it further than any previous legislative session. SB157 is a bill that would allow individuals seeking parole to participate in their own hearings. While its floor vote was postponed, we saw increased bipartisan support for this initiative that ensures the Alabama Pardons and Paroles Board upholds due process.
We also witnessed multiple voting rights bills that attempted to expand the ability for Alabamians to vote fairly, freely, and safely. From making Election Day a State Holiday (SB64) to Early Voting Expansion (SB71), it’s clear that our communities want to see better access to the polls for 2026 and beyond.
The ACLU of Alabama is always monitoring the most significant threats to the civil rights and liberties of ALL Alabamians, especially bad bills that worsen voter access, LGBTQ+ rights, public safety, and free speech. This year was no different. Thanks to people like you, we saw an outpouring of support through organized protests, public hearings, and legislative trainings.
At the top of the legislative session, more than 200 of you joined us in Montgomery for our Werk the Lege advocacy training for the long road ahead. Our work is driven by the support of all of you who remained engaged and kept pushing, fighting, and advocating right alongside us. We believe that it requires the work of us all to create a better and safer Alabama that values the rights of ALL and we will continue to build toward a future where our Legislature reflects these values too.
