Judge blocks pro-life laws that bans abortion clinics near Alabama schools

On Thursday, U.S District Court Judge Myron Thompson blocked an Alabama law that would have banned abortion clinics from operating within 2,000 feet of a K-8 public school. A second rule, which would have made a common second trimester abortion procedure illegal, was also stopped from going into effect.

The judge ordered a preliminary injunction, claiming multiple times in his opinion that the laws were “likely unconstitutional.”

“…The school-proximity law would place substantial, and even insurmountable, burdens on Alabama women seeking pre-viability abortions,” Judge Thompson wrote.

He went on to say that the law could lead to the closing of clinics in Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, which provide over 70 percent of abortions in the state. Should it go into effect, that would leave only three facilities open across the state, which the judge said unduly hinders the “constitutional right” of women to attain the procedure.

He went further to say imply that the law rewarded the desire of abortion opponents and protesters, whose goal is to “harass” and “disrupt” clinics.

” The message of the law is arguably that the greater the disruption, the greater the likelihood that the State will react with laws to curb that disruption by placing additional restrictions on the clinics,” Judge Thompson said.

The law had been signed by Governor Bentley earlier in the year and was set to go into effect on August 1, but the American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the rule. According to them, similar laws that were passed in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Louisiana were all blocked.

“Just like the Supreme Court did back in June, today yet another court rejected politicians’ attempts to prevent a woman from getting an abortion if she needs one,” said Andrew Beck, an attorney with the ACLU.

The pro-choice organization touts that they’ve posed legal challenges to Alabama’s seven pro-life laws in the past three years.