Federal judge blocks Alabama law banning abortion facilities near schools

A federal judge has permanently blocked an Alabama law that would have shut down abortion facilities near schools.

In a 148-page ruling issued on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson said that the law unconstitutionally restricts women's access to abortion.

According to Life News, the measure would have banned abortion facilities from building within 2,000 feet of public elementary or middle schools. It also would have prohibited the state health department from issuing or renewing a health center license to current abortion clinics within the same distance of the schools.

Two abortion clinics, the Alabama Women's Center of Huntsville and West Alabama Women's Center of Tuscaloosa, sued to challenge the law after it was passed in 2016. The judge noted that the two clinics perform 72 percent of all abortions in the state, adding that the location restriction would force both facilities to close. He also said that other clinics could also be forced to shut down or relocate if new schools were constructed.

Thompson also blocked a law banning dismemberment abortions, a technique that is commonly used for second-trimester abortions. He said that the legislation would have effectively terminated the right to abortion in Alabama at 15 weeks.

AL.com noted that the West Alabama Women's Center, which opened in 1993, and the Alabama Women's Center, which opened in 2001, are only two clinics in the state that performs abortions at or after 15 weeks.

Both measures were passed by the Legislature last year and they were supposed to take effect on Aug. 1 of this year. Thompson had previously issued an order to temporarily prevent the state from enforcing both laws.

Randall Marshall, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, who represents the plaintiffs, said that the ruling was a "great victory for the women of Alabama who deserve the right to a safe, medical procedure."

Mike Lewis, a spokesman for the Alabama attorney general's office, said that the state plans to file an appeal.

Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, who sponsored the bill banning dismemberment abortion, said that the ruling proves that Thompson is one of the most liberal judges in the southeast and called dismember abortion a "heinous procedure."

Rev. James Henderson, who spearheaded the law banning abortion clinics within 2,000 feet of schools, said that he was not surprised by Thompson's decision and is confident that it will be overturned.

"We know there are hurdles in the appeal process, but the longer it takes the more likelihood there will be another Trump appointment or two," Henderson said. "So I honestly believe with all my heart that ultimately within a year or two this is going to get to the Supreme Court, it's going to be overturned by a conservative Supreme Court," he added.