Reproductive rights groups in Alabama wasted no time resuming their work after a federal judge ruled in early April that the state’s attorney general can’t prosecute — or threaten to prosecute — people or organizations who help Alabama residents seek an abortion by traveling to another state.
One of the plaintiffs, the reproductive justice nonprofit Yellowhammer Fund, wasted no time in returning to one of its core missions: to provide financial support to traveling patients.
“The decision came at about 5:30. I think we funded an abortion at 5:45 — because that’s how severe the need is, that’s how urgent it is that we get back to the work that we’re doing,” said Jenice Fountain, executive director of Yellowhammer Fund, which advocates for abortion access.
On April 2, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether South Carolina can remove Planned Parenthood clinics from the state’s Medicaid program. This came just days after Planned Parenthood received notice that the Trump administration wouldwithhold funding from the Title X Family Planning Program for nine of the group’s affiliates.
“We’re just seeing kind of a multiplying of conflicts where we have unanswered questions about the meaning of the First Amendment in this context, about the right to travel in this context, about due process in this context — about these sort of clashing state laws and choosing which one applies,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California-Davis who specializes in the politics and history of reproductive rights.
Alabama has one of the strictest bans on abortion in the country — with no exceptions for rape or incest. The law was approved by the state legislature in 2019 and remained at the ready should Roe v. Wade be overturned. It took effect immediately when the Supreme Court did just that on June 24, 2022, in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
At the time, Yellowhammer Fund was getting about 100 calls a week from people seeking financial help with getting an abortion, Fountain said.
For more than two years, the organization has been unable to help such callers.
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