FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2013

CONTACT:
Olivia Turner, ACLU of Alabama, (334) 265-2754 x 204 or (334) 538-7614; [email protected]

MONTGOMERY, AL – The Senate Health Committee of the Alabama Legislature yesterday approved a bill that threatens to close women’s health centers in the state. Health centers providing abortion care currently comply with strict state and federal requirements, but HB 57 would force health centers providing safe and legal abortion care to either comply with unnecessary, stringent new standards that may be impossible to meet -- or close.

“Targeting women’s health care centers with burdensome and unnecessary regulations can have devastating results. The bill seriously threatens the ability of Alabama women to access comprehensive care because it could force health centers to shut their doors,” said Olivia Turner, Executive Director of the ACLU of Alabama. “Should the bill pass, it also exposes the state to the risk of costly litigation," she added. "We will do everything we can to protect the ability of Alabama women to make the private medical decisions that are best for their circumstances – best for them and their families."

Similar measures have resulted in litigation when passed in other states, most recently, in Mississippi, which enacted a law last year similar to HB 57. The law in Mississippi was immediately challenged and is currently blocked from enforcement.

Download: Senate Health Committee Approves Unnecessary Bill that Threatens to Expose Alabama to Costly Litigation