{"id":59111,"date":"2023-07-31T13:09:23","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T20:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=59111"},"modified":"2023-07-31T13:09:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T20:09:23","slug":"abortion-fund-sues-alabama-attorney-general-after-he-threatens-criminal-prosecution-for-helping-abortion-seekers-leave-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=59111","title":{"rendered":"Abortion Fund Sues Alabama Attorney General After He Threatens Criminal Prosecution for Helping Abortion Seekers Leave the State"},"content":{"rendered":"

07.31.23 \u2013\u00a0 Today the\u00a0Yellowhammer Fund<\/a>\u00a0asked<\/a>\u00a0a federal court to prevent the Alabama Attorney General from making good on his\u00a0threats<\/a>\u00a0to criminalize people that help pregnant Alabamians leave the state to access legal abortion.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General\u2019s threats specifically target helpers like the Yellowhammer Fund, an organization that provides funding and practical support to pregnant Alabamians who are forced to leave their home state and often travel hundreds of miles to access legal abortion care.\u00a0 Even though Alabama has no power to criminalize lawful activity that takes place in other states, the consequences of the Attorney General\u2019s threats are significant and have forced Yellowhammer Fund to stop operating its abortion fund due to fear of prosecution.<\/p>\n

People and organizations that provide aid in helping people exercise rights are often the unsung heroes of protecting civil rights.\u00a0 Those who participated in the\u00a0Freedom Rides in Alabama<\/a>\u00a0were helpers as were the publishers of\u00a0The Green Book<\/a>.\u00a0 Organizations like the Yellowhammer Fund are helpers in the battle for reproductive justice.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cToday, we filed this lawsuit in the courthouse next to the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, Alabama challenging the State\u2019s efforts to restrict travel for abortion care.\u00a0 The symbolism is not lost on us,\u201d\u00a0said Jenice Fountain, Executive Director at the Yellowhammer Fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbortion funds do more than simply provide aid. They send a message of solidarity to those who are persecuted by the State of Alabama for seeking to control their reproductive health. That message is both that our humanity and dignity are interconnected and that the State\u2019s efforts to isolate and oppress pregnant people cannot break that bond. The attorney general objects to that message and has targeted us and those who wish to help pregnant people leave the state for lawful abortion care.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The need for abortion funding and support has only increased since the fall of\u00a0Roe, particularly in Alabama.\u00a0 Abortion is banned in Alabama, the state has the\u00a0third highest maternal mortality rate<\/a>\u00a0in the country, and Alabama is the\u00a0sixth poorest state<\/a>\u00a0in the country.\u00a0 In 2021, before abortion was even banned in the state, nearly two thousand people\u00a0traveled<\/a>\u00a0out of state to obtain needed abortion care.\u00a0 These burdens fall most heavily on Black people and communities of color, people who also face a heightened risk of criminalization.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General\u2019s threats violate Yellowhammer Fund\u2019s constitutional rights to free expression, association, travel, and due process and intrude on the sovereignty of states where abortion is legal.\u00a0 This is the second civil rights lawsuit filed this month challenging a state\u2019s efforts to infringe upon the right to travel for abortion care; the first\u00a0challenges<\/a>\u00a0an Idaho law that criminalizes assistance to young people seeking abortion care\u00a0 without parental knowledge.<\/p>\n

Yellowhammer Fund is represented by the\u00a0Lawyering Project<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A similar case was\u00a0filed<\/a>\u00a0in the Middle District of Alabama today by the ACLU on behalf of West Alabama Women\u2019s Center, Dr. Yashica Robinson, and Alabama Women\u2019s Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

07.31.23 \u2013\u00a0 Today the\u00a0Yellowhammer Fund\u00a0asked\u00a0a federal...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59112,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59111\/revisions\/59112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}