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Alabama Abortion Ban Is Blocked by a Federal Judge Alabama Abortion Ban Is Blocked by a Federal Judge
(about 3 hours later)
A federal judge blocked Alabama’s near-total ban on abortions on Tuesday, stopping the legislation from taking effect next month. A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a near-total ban on abortions from taking effect next month in Alabama, ensuring the procedure remains legal and available in the state while the legislation winds its way through the courts.
The ruling, an early step in a legal confrontation that critics of abortion orchestrated to try to reach the United States Supreme Court, ensured that abortion services would remain available in the state, at least for now. The ruling against the Alabama law — the most far-reaching measure passed by state lawmakers this year — was an early step in a legal confrontation that abortion opponents orchestrated to try to reach the United States Supreme Court.
The Alabama law would have made it a felony for doctors to provide abortions in almost all circumstances, and it threatened them with up to 99 years in prison. The law did not include any exceptions for abortions in cases of rape or incest, allowing the procedure only when a woman’s health was at “serious” risk. Several states, including Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia, approved laws that would ban abortions after the heartbeat of what becomes the fetus can be detected, all with the aim of setting the stage for the renewed legal fight over abortion rights. In each of those states, a federal judge has blocked the measures from taking effect.
The preliminary injunction, which was issued by Judge Myron H. Thompson of the United States District Court in Middle Alabama, will remain in effect until the “court resolves the case in full.” Judge Myron H. Thompson of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama issued the injunction against the Alabama law, which banned abortion at every stage of pregnancy and criminalized the procedure for doctors, who could be charged with felonies and face up to 99 years in prison. It included an exception for cases when the mother’s life is at serious risk, but not for cases of rape or incest — a subject of fierce debate among lawmakers this year.
The Alabama law had been set to take effect on Nov. 15.
The legal challenge was mounted by the A.C.L.U. and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America on behalf of Dr. Yashica Robinson, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Huntsville who provides abortions.
Opponents of the law hailed the injunction as a positive development as the case pushes ahead. They also said it comes as a relief to the women who believed the procedure had already been outlawed in their state.
“Abortion remains legal in Alabama,” Randall Marshall, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said in a statement following the ruling. “The state’s repeated attempts to push abortion out of reach by enacting unconstitutional laws restricting abortions have already cost taxpayers nearly $2.5 million. This ill-advised law will cost taxpayers more money.”
Steve Marshall, the Alabama attorney general, said on Tuesday that the injunction was “not unexpected,” and that it did not stand in the way of setting off a larger legal fight over landmark cases on abortion, including Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
“As we have stated before, the State’s objective is to advance our case to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Mr. Marshall said in a statement, “where we intend to submit evidence that supports our argument that Roe and Casey were wrongly decided and that the Constitution does not prohibit states from protecting unborn children from abortion.”