A judge in Madison County, Alabama, has dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit that had been filed against a Huntsville women’s clinic for providing a legal abortion. While the dismissal in no way indicates that Alabama is backing away from efforts to outlaw abortion entirely, it does accord with current law.
The lawsuit was filed in February of this year in the name of Ryan Magers, a man whose former girlfriend had obtained a legal abortion in 2017 “against his wishes,” and in Magers’ name as representative of the estate of the aborted embryo, which the suit referred to as the “deceased child” Baby Roe. A judge ruled in March that the embryo in the case had legal standing under Alabama law, and after a later ruling that Magers could not sue both on his own behalf and on behalf of the estate, the suit proceeded solely in the name of the estate.
Last week Madison County Circuit Judge Chris Comer dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that, according to Alabama law at the time the woman obtained the abortion, it was not an illegal act. Abortion is still not an illegal act in Alabama: The Alabama Human Life Protection Act signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey (more recently in the news for other reasons, having to do with her older racist actions while in college), which bans abortion in all cases except threats to the life of the pregnant person, was not scheduled to go into effect until November, and is now facing legal challenges. PBS’ Frontline reports, “Even advocates for the Alabama Human Life Protection Act have called it unconstitutional. Ivey, who inked it into law, said the ban will likely be ‘unenforceable,’ signaling that a legal battle—part of a larger push to overturn Roe v. Wade—was the point all along.” In the confusion that has followed the signing of the act, many people in Alabama assume that abortion is now illegal there—an assumption that can only be making those working to abolish it happy.
Planned Parenthood is currently building a new facility in Birmingham.