MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A federal judge has permanently blocked Alabama laws that tried to restrict abortion clinics near schools and to ban a common second-trimester procedure.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a 148-page ruling Thursday saying the laws are unconstitutional. He’s preventing the state from enforcing them.
The decision makes permanent a ruling issued by Thompson a year ago. The state already is appealing that decision.
A statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama calls Thompson’s decision a “great victory” for women.
Legislators passed the laws in 2016. They banned abortion clinics within 2,000 feet of K-8 public schools and barred the second-trimester procedure known as dilation and evacuation.
Thompson says the location restriction would force closure of two of the state’s busiest abortion clinics in Huntsville and Tuscaloosa.