The U.S. Supreme Court just revived Alabama’s dying abortion industry

WASHINGTON — With a single ruling, the United States Supreme Court may have given the abortion industry an opportunity for a resurgence in Alabama, where lawmakers had previously passed regulations making it difficult for abortionists to do business in the Yellowhammer State.

By a 5-3 vote, the high court on Monday struck down a Texas law that placed “an undue burden” on women seeking an abortion by requiring providers to have hospital admitting privileges. The Alabama legislature passed a similar law in 2013, but a federal judge blocked it, prompting the state to appeal.

Under the law, Alabama abortion clinics were held to the same standards as other medical facilities, and any physician who performed an abortion was required to have staff privileges at a local hospital. If the clinic did not meet the requirement, their alternative was to contract with a local doctor who already had admitting privileges to serve as an outside covering physician.

The ACLU last year filed a lawsuit against the state in an effort to keep Tuscaloosa’s only abortion clinic, the West Alabama Women’s Center, open. The clinic had closed in January after its only doctor with admitting privileges retired and his replacement was unable to meet the state’s requirements.

A federal court ruled parts of the law unconstitutional in 2013, and in August of last year, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a temporary restraining order blocking its enforcement.

Thompson said abortion rights cannot be exercised without a provider, similar to how Second Amendment rights cannot be exercised without a place to buy weapons and ammunition.

“The evidence compellingly demonstrates that the requirement would have the striking result of closing three of Alabama’s five abortion clinics,” he wrote, “clinics which perform only early abortions, long before viability.”

Pro-abortion groups applauded the ruling.

“These admitting privileges were not designed to make women safer,” said Susan Watson, who heads the ACLU of Alabama. “We are proud to know that Alabama’s women will continue have access to safe and legal abortions.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling this week, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange announced the state will no longer pursue an appeal.

“The Texas law which was declared unconstitutional is nearly identical to an Alabama abortion clinic law currently under legal challenge,” said Strange. “While I disagree with the high court’s decision, there is no good faith argument that Alabama’s law remains constitutional in light of the Supreme Court ruling. Accordingly, my office will dismiss our appeal of a 2014 federal court ruling declaring Alabama’s abortion clinic law unconstitutional.”

In 2013, the Alabama Policy Institute (API) released data on the number of abortions that have taken place in Alabama since Roe v. Wade went into effect in 1973.

According to API, there were 515,900 abortions in Alabama between 1973 and 2011, and over 50 million abortions nationwide during that same timeframe. Forty-two percent of abortions in the United States are by women earning below the poverty line, almost 60% of whom are between the ages of 20-29.