ACLU of Alabama head calls abortion ban ‘foolish’; Says result will fill ACLU, PP coffers with taxpayer money

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April 9, 2019

During an appearance on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal” on Monday, ACLU of Alabama executive director Randall Marshall predicted an effort by the state legislature to ban abortion in Alabama will result in a cost to taxpayers in the end.

Marshall told APTV host Don Dailey he anticipated an effort spearheaded by Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur) to put a ban on abortions with the hope of the law being challenged in the federal courts and ultimately reaching the Supreme Court to force the high court to revisit the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision would fail.

As a result, Marshall said the state of Alabama would be forced to pay the legal fees incurred by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood to challenge the law.

Marshall said past challenges have shown that to be the case.

“They think we’re at a totally different place,” Marshall said. “I will say the last challenge that we won, the state of Alabama ended up paying the ACLU and Planned Parenthood $1.7 million. The case before the Supreme Court right now, if review is denied, is going to cost the state that much and probably more. This ban is clearly unconstitutional. It will be enjoined by the federal district court. It will be upheld at the 11th Circuit. And they’re pinning all their hopes that somehow because of a change in the make-up of the Supreme Court, they’re going to do away with 40 years of established law.”

“I think the end result would be that the state of Alabama is going to again fill the ACLU and Planned Parenthood coffers with taxpayer money as a result of these foolish decisions,” Marshall added.

Marshall was very confident his side would ultimately prevail in the federal courts.

“It’s inevitable to me,” he added. “I think there is a close to zero chance this strategy is going to work. I think there is about a 99.9% chance that the state is going to end up paying attorneys’ fees bill that are quite hefty if they proceed to do this.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.