Good news on the abortion front

In Alabama, it's a felony to provide or attempt an abortion except in a "medical emergency." This has led women in Alabama to travel to other states for their abortions. In response to this, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said that he would prosecute anyone who assisted a woman from Alabama to have an abortion in another state where abortion is legal, for example, by driving her there.

Several pro-choice organizations sued, and yesterday, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled in the plaintiffs' favor, stating that a state cannot punish its citizens or others who engage in conduct in other states where that conduct is legal. Another example of this would be if California, where gambling is illegal, were to prosecute citizens who traveled to Las Vegas to gamble. This ruling is based on the "right to travel" found in the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV of the Constitution. No other than Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh cited the right to travel in the Dobbs decision (which allowed individual states to outlaw abortion) because someone from a state where abortion is illegal should be able to travel to a state where it's legal if they need one. Even President Trump has said that abortion should be "up to the states." If it's legal for a Californian to gamble in Nevada, it should be legal for an Alabamian to get an abortion in Illinois.

This ruling has implications for states like Texas and Louisiana, which are attempting to prosecute doctors in other states who prescribe abortion medication online.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/01/alabama-out-of-state-abortion-ruling

Miram · 31-35, F

I won't have politicians who can't even match 10% of my training and competencies decide and regulate my practice, anywhere. There should be an order and a hierarchy of merits in any power structure. Most, if not all, legislators are low achievers with little to no familiarity of the context they are attempting to exercise control over. More professionals should take a stand against it.

DavidT8899 · 22-25, M

I'm amazed that A.G even tried to make that case.Its just common sense law that if a person does a thing that is legal in a specific state while present in that state,that legality must be respected by every state.Im surprised the man didn't get repremaided along with being overturned.

bijouxbroussard · F

I’m so glad somebody put the brakes on that ridiculous law, because those states were trying to implement the equivalent of "runaway slave" laws, attempting to control women’s actions even after they’d left the jurisdiction of their home states !

Maybe the gambling analogy will at least make it make sense even for some of these anti-choice folks here.