Over the past 14 months there have been a number of encouraging court rulings on abortion, starting with Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt last June. There were a couple more last Friday, as reported by Jezebel:
In Arkansas, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on four laws, three of which would have gone into effect on Tuesday, in a case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Little Rock abortion provider Dr. Frederick Hopkins. The laws ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation; impose restrictions regarding the fetal remains that could allow a woman’s sexual partner or even her rapist, to effectively block her abortion ; expand requirements around reporting a minor’s abortion to law enforcement; and require providers to obtain records of a woman’s entire history of pregnancy.
On the same day, the ACLU won a case in Alabama after U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Russ Walker blocked a 2014 parental consent law that required the state to appoint a lawyer to represent any fetus being carried by a minor in cases where a minor sought a judicial bypass to obtain an abortion.
The Alabama law was a modification of the state’s existing parental consent requirement for minors seeking abortions.
In addition to mandating the appointment of a guardian to represent the fetus when a minor came to court to bypass the state requirement’s that a minor’s parents must give the okay for an abortion, the change allowed the district attorney and the minor’s parents to cross-examine her and disclose her pregnancy to others, including teachers, friends, and employers.
If a court granted the minor a bypass. the district attorney, fetus’ legal representative, or parents could appeal. Foes of the provisions said this drawn-out legal process could take so long that the minor would no longer be able to obtain an abortion even if the bypass were ultimately granted. Under another Alabama law, no abortions are allowed after 19 weeks of gestation.
Andrew Beck, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement Friday:
“Today’s ruling is a victory for women, for young people, and for reproductive health in Alabama. Existing restrictions already force teenagers seeking abortion care to face a series of daunting obstacles. This law added insult to injury by forcing them to stand trial for their health decisions.”
Adding insult to injury has been a longstanding approach of forced-birthers in much of their efforts since 10 minutes after Roe v. Wade was ruled 44 years ago.