Alabama Temporary Abortion Ban Blocked by Federal Judge

District Judge Myron Thompson granted a preliminary injunction against Alabama Governor Kay Ivey's executive order banning medical procedures except for emergencies or procedures required to “avoid serious harm from an underlying condition or disease, or necessary as part of a patient’s ongoing and active treatment.” Alabama correctly considered abortions to be non-essential procedures, but Judge Thompson said that Alabama could not limit abortions in this way.

“... efforts to combat COVID-19 do not outweigh the lasting harm imposed by the denial of an individual’s right to terminate her pregnancy, by an undue burden or increase in risk on patients imposed by a delayed procedure, or by the cloud of unwarranted prosecution against providers,” she wrote on Easter Sunday.

The order was designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 and preserve medical resources for doctors fighting the pandemic.

A similar executive order in Texas has been brought all the way to the Supreme Court and could be decided any day.

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