Federal judge strikes down Alabama's anti-abortion restrictions

This local article reports:

A federal judge has permanently struck down an Alabama law that required abortion doctors to obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital.

 

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson entered the order Friday declaring the state abortion law, which had previously blocked the state from enforcing, as unconstitutional. Thompson says the law would make it impossible for a woman to obtain an abortion in much of the state.

 

State abortion clinics had filed a lawsuit in 2013 challenging the requirement as unnecessary and an undue burden on women's right to access abortion services.

 

Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, an American Civil Liberties Union, says the ruling protects women's access to legal abortion.

 

The decision comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether a similar Texas law is constitutional.