Alabama’s attorney general cannot prosecute people and groups who help Alabama women travel to other states to obtain abortions, a federal judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson sided with an abortion fund and medical providers who sued Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall after he suggested they could face prosecution under anti-conspiracy laws. Thompson’s ruling declared that such prosecutions would violate both the First Amendment and a person’s right to travel.
Marshall has not pursued any such prosecutions. However, he said he would “look at closely” whether facilitating out-of-state abortions is a violation of Alabama’s criminal conspiracy laws. The ruling was a victory for Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion assistance fund that had paused providing financial assistance to low-income people in the state because of the possibility of prosecution. Alabama bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape and incest.
