News & Commentary

Law Would Have Forced Most Clinics in the State to Stop Providing Abortions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2013

CONTACT:
Robyn Shepherd, ACLU national, 212-519-7829 or 549-2666, [email protected]
Susan Watson, ACLU of Alabama, 334-265-2754, [email protected]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A federal judge has temporarily blocked an Alabama law that imposes medically unnecessary restrictions that would force most of the clinics in the state to stop providing abortions. The law was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Alabama, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Planned Parenthood Southeast.

"We're grateful that the court stepped in to prevent politicians from taking away a woman's ability to make this personal and private decision," said Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. "We will continue to fight to ensure that these decisions can be made by a woman with her family and her doctor, not by politicians sitting in Montgomery."

The following can be attributed to Susan Watson, Executive Director, ACLU of Alabama:

We are disappointed that the Supreme Court has put up a roadblock to make voting less free, fair, and accessible. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act has been critically important to our state. It blocked 46 discriminatory voting laws in Alabama between 1982 and 2006; the state also violated Section 2, another critical provision of the Voting Rights Act that protects against discrimination, 192 times.

We know Congress is committed to protect the rights of minority voters on a bipartisan basis. Congress has reauthorized Section 5 every time since its passage and most recently reauthorized it with overwhelming bipartisan support, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2006.

The ACLU of Alabama’s Board of Directors has announced the appointment of Susan Watson, as the new executive director of the statewide civil liberties organization based in Montgomery. Watson, formerly with the ACLU of Florida, succeeds Olivia Turner, who served the ACLU of Alabama for 26 years.

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.