Alabama's Strict Abortion Law Knocked Down In Federal Court

BIRMINGHAM, AL — In what the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama called a "great victory" for women, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson permanently blocked state laws restricting abortion clinics near schools and a ban on common second-trimester procedures.

In aa 148-page order issued Thursday, the decision made permanent a temporary ruling issued by Thompson a year ago. Mike Lewis, a spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, said the state will appeal Thompson's ruling.

"Despite the state's continued attempts to restrict access to abortion, the courts have definitively held that access to an abortion is a constitutional right," Randall Marshall, executive director of the Alabama ACLU, said in a statement.

Legislators passed the laws in 2016. They banned abortion clinics within 2,000 feet of K-8 public schools and barred the second-trimester procedure known as dilation and evacuation.

Two of the state's five abortion clinics, the Alabama Women's Center of Huntsville and West Alabama Women's Center of Tuscaloosa, filed suit to block the law. Combined, the two clinics perform about 70 percent of all abortions in the state, the judge said.

The location restriction would force both to close, Thompson wrote, and other clinics could be forced to relocate or close if new schools were constructed.

"This ever-present possibility would threaten the right of all women in Alabama to access an abortion," the judge said.

Courts have blocked similar laws in Kansas and Oklahoma.

By JAY REEVES, Associated Press

Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images