Abortion remains legal in Alabama thanks to two Black people.

District Court Judge Myron H. Thompson issued an injunction on Tuesday to block Alabama’s fetal heartbeat law from going into effect. The law, which was scheduled to go into effect on November 15, would have banned abortion at every stage of pregnancy. Providers who performed the procedure would also face 99 years in prison.

The decision was in response to a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America on behalf of Dr. Yashica Robinson, an OB/GYN who provides abortions in Alabama.

Robinson praised the decision in a statement, according to Mother Jones.

“This win is critical to our patients and to health care providers like myself,” Robinson said. “The abortion care we provide is essential health care, and these ruthless attacks from anti-abortion politicians have no place in Alabama.”

Randall Marshall, the executive director of Alabama’s ACLU chapter, also expressed relief.

“Abortion remains legal in Alabama,” Marshall said. “The state’s repeated attempts to push abortion out of reach by enacting unconstitutional laws restricting abortions have already cost taxpayers nearly $2.5 million. This ill-advised law will cost taxpayers more money.”

Federal judges have struck down restrictive abortion laws in Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia in recent months. The goal is to take the battle to the Supreme Court, according to Steve Marshall, the attorney general of Alabama.

“As we have stated before, the State’s objective is to advance our case to the U.S. Supreme Court where we intend to submit evidence that supports our argument that Roe and Casey were wrongly decided and that the Constitution does not prohibit states from protecting unborn children from abortion,” he said.

Judge-Myron-Thompson

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