MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson today ruled an Alabama law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals is unconstitutional, saying that it poses an undue burden on women's right to abortion.
Abortion providers sued to block the law, passed in 2013, saying it would force three of Alabama's five abortion clinics to close. The law has not been enforced while the lawsuit is pending.
The clinics use traveling doctors who could not get admitting privileges, they said.
Thompson held a three-week, non-jury trial in May and June. In a 172-page opinion released today, the judge wrote: "The evidence compellingly demonstrates that the requirement would have the striking result of closing three of Alabama's five abortion clinics, clinics which perform only early abortions, long before viability."
Gov. Robert Bentley said in a statement he was "extremely disappointed" by the ruling and supports an appeal.
Thompson had initially planned to rule in July, but last week notified attorneys that he was delaying his decision until today to give him more time to study the opinions in a federal appeals court ruling on a similar law in Mississippi.The appeals court last week ruled 2-1 that the Mississippi law was unconstitutional.
Supporters of the Alabama law, called the Women's health and Safety Act, said it was needed to ensure that women who have complications after abortion procedures receive good followup care.
The plaintiffs in the case, Planned Parenthood Southeast and Reproductive Health Services, argued there was not a good medical reason for the requirement. Planned Parenthood operates clinics in Birmingham and Mobile. Reproductive Health Services operates a clinic in Montgomery.
The clinics with were already required to have doctors under contract who do have admitting privileges, but they were not required to be the doctors who do abortions.
Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, issued a statement in support of the ruling.
"These admitting privileges were not designed to make women safer," Watson said. "Major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, oppose them. We are proud to know that Alabama's women will continue have access to safe and legal abortions."
Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, also issued a statement, saying the law was not intended to protect patient safety:
"Politicians passed this law in order to make it impossible for women in Alabama to get abortions, plain and simple," she said. "This victory ensures that women in Alabama can make their own private health care decisions without the interference from politicians."
But the governor said the law was important for patient care.
"Abortion is a fundamental assault on the sanctity of innocent human life, and I believe that it should only be done as a last possible effort to save the life of the mother," Bentley said in a statement. "As a doctor, I firmly believe that medical procedures, including abortions, performed in Alabama should be done in the safest manner possible. This law ensures that if a complication arises there is continuity of treatment between doctor and patient. This ruling significantly diminishes those important protections. I will always fight for the rights of the unborn, and support an appeal of today's decision."
House Speaker Mike Hubbard of Auburn, who supported the law, also issued a statement, calling Thompson's ruling "merely a hurdle" in what he said would be a long fight. Hubbard noted that a federal appeals court upheld a similar admitting privileges requirement in a Texas law.
"This battle is a marathon and not a sprint, but it is one that the Republican legislature will continue to fight to protect women in the state of Alabama," Hubbard said.
Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead released a statement that read, in part: "As Republicans we are opposed to abortion, but beyond that we are proponents of life. If a woman does have an abortion, it is important that she receive proper care. By nullifying the 2013 law, we now risk the possibility of women not being correctly taken care of in the event of complications."
Thompson cited a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision as the governing standard on whether the admitting privileges requirement violates the due process rights of women who seek abortions.
In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that an "undue burden" is "a state regulation that has the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus."
Thompson said he would request more input from both sides in the case to help to decide other issues, including whether an injunction is necessary. He said the temporary restraining order would remain in effect for the time being.
Read the ruling on the abortion clinic law.pdf
This story was updated several times, including at 1:11 p.m. to add statement from Gov. Robert Bentley. Updated at 2:40 p.m. to add statement from House Speaker Mike Hubbard.
