A federal judge in Alabama has blocked an abortion ban that would have ruled abortions to be a felony at any stage of pregnancy in the US state, under almost every circumstance.
As of Tuesday, October 29, US District Judge Myron Thompson has issued a preliminary injunction that has blocked Alabama from enforcing this legislation.
Had these laws been allowed to pass, abortion providers would have faced sentences of 10 years to life imprisonment, without exceptions being made for cases involving rape or incest.
The proposed law had been scheduled to come into effect on November 15, and would have marked the most uncompromising of the anti-abortion legislation brought in this year.
As reported by ABC News, legislators in Alabama had approved the measure earlier this year.
Following this approval, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama and Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates sued the state of Alabama, declaring the proposed law to be unconstitutional.
As reported by AL.com, Randall Marshall, Executive Director of the ACLU of Alabama, has made the following statement:
As expected, the court has blocked the law and it will not go into effect. Abortion remains legal in Alabama.
The state’s repeated attempts to push abortion out of reach by enacting unconstitutional laws restricting abortions has already cost taxpayers nearly $2.5 million. This ill-advised law will cost taxpayers more money.
Staci Fox, President of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates, has also made a statement, saying:
This is not only a victory for the people of Alabama — it’s a victory for the entire nation. We said it from the start: this ban is blatantly unconstitutional and we will fight it every step of the way.
We will continue fighting this law in court until it is permanently blocked and we will work every day to make sure that abortion remains safe, legal, and available in Alabama.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.