In ruling against the Alabama law — the most far-reaching anti-abortion measure passed by state lawmakers this year — Judge Myron H. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama wrote that it violates Supreme Court precedent and “defies” the Constitution.
Alabama was among several states to approve restrictive laws designed to provoke a renewed legal battle over abortion rights, with the aim to reach the U.S. Supreme Court and topple Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion up to the point when a fetus is viable outside the womb, usually about 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
Federal judges in six other states have blocked laws that would ban abortions after what becomes the fetus’ heartbeat can be detected from going into effect, and judges in two other states have temporarily blocked laws that would ban abortions after 18 weeks. Alabama’s law would have gone into effect Nov. 15.
Tuesday’s ruling was anticipated. When she signed the bill into law in May, Alabama’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey, conceded that the legislation was likely “unenforceable.” Still, she said it would prompt courts to “revisit this important matter.”
Opponents of the law hailed Tuesday’s ruling as a positive development as the case pushed ahead.
“Abortion remains legal in Alabama,” Randall Marshall, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said 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.”
The legal challenge to Alabama’s law was mounted by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood on behalf of Dr. Yashica Robinson, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Huntsville, Alabama, who provides abortions.
Supporters of the law denounced the decision.
“As we have stated before, the state’s objective is to advance our case to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Steve Marshall, the state’s attorney general, said. There, he said, the state would submit evidence that the landmark abortion cases of Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey were “wrongly decided and that the Constitution does not prohibit states from protecting unborn children from abortion.”
This article originally appeared in
.