A law that would have closed three out of Alabama's five abortion clinics is unconstitutional, ruled a federal court judge on Monday. The 2013 law, similar to legislation passed across the country, would have required abortion providers to seek admitting privileges at local hospitals. [...] In an encyclopedic 172-page decision that followed a three-week trial, Judge Myron H. Thompson wrote that the law violated the standard set by the Supreme Court mandating that states cannot place an "undue burden" on woman seeking an abortion.
A federal judge has struck down a harmful state law that would have severely restricted access to safe, legal abortion by forcing all but two of the licensed health centers in Alabama to stop providing abortions. Laws like these -- which are opposed by the American Medical Association (AMA) and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) -- single out doctors who provide abortions and require them to obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital.
After a thorough review, that included a 10-day trial, the judge found that:* The law would actually make women less safe by “undermining the patient-care goals put forward by the State”;* The state’s justifications for the law were “exceedingly weak” and “speculative”;* The law “does not reflect the practice of 21st century medicine"; and* “Evidence compellingly demonstrates” the requirement would “have the striking result of closing three of Alabama’s five abortion clinics."