News & Commentary
Challenge to Alabama Abortion Restrictions to Go to Trial
Unnecessary Restrictions Would Force All but Two Clinics in the State to Stop Providing Abortions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2014
CONTACT:
Robyn Shepherd, ACLU National, 212-519-7829, [email protected]
Brooke Anderson, ACLU of Alabama, 334-265-2754, [email protected]
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A challenge to an Alabama law that singles out abortion providers for medically unnecessary restrictions will go to trial after a federal judge’s order today. The law would force all but two of the licensed women’s health centers in the state to stop offering abortion care. The law was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Alabama, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
“This law has absolutely nothing to do with protecting women’s health,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a staff attorney at the ACLU. “Rather, it’s just another attempt by politicians prevent a woman from getting a safe and legal abortion, pure and simple.”
The law requires abortion providers to obtain staff privileges at local hospitals. These laws are opposed by leading national medical groups, such as the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Even the state’s own Department of Health opposed the law and asked the legislature not to pass it. In the order issued today, the Court recognized that “plaintiffs have offered substantial evidence that this regulation does almost nothing to protect women’s health.”
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