Alabama Republicans are outraged by a federal court ruling Monday striking down an Alabama law regulating abortion clinics.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson deemed the law, which would have required physicians who perform abortions to have staff privileges at a local hospital, unconstitutional.
“A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a state law that would have forced all but two of the licensed health centers in Alabama to stop providing abortions,” read a press release by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The problem, explains the ACLU in a statement, is that many physicians are “unable to obtain hospital staff privileges due to factors such as the hospital’s opposition to abortion or requirements that the physicians live within a certain radius of the hospital; or that the physicians admit between 12-48 patients a year.”
Alabama is not the first state to introduce legislation that would limit abortions in this manner. Already Texas has enacted clinic regulations and similar legislation has been seen in Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Wisconsin.
Lawmakers defended the law as necessary to protect the health of pregnant women and lives of unborn children.
Alabama Republican Rep. Bradley Byrne told The Daily Caller News Foundation, “While I’m disappointed in Judge Thompson’s ruling today, I strongly support the state taking this important issue up on appeal.”
The congressman went onto say, “It is clear that courts across the country have differing opinions on this issue, and I hope the Supreme Court will eventually weigh in. As a proud father of four children, I will continue to support legislation that defends the sanctity of life at the federal level.”
Alabama Republican Rep. Robert Aderholt told TheDCNF, “It is very disappointing to see the arm of the federal government reaching Alabama or any state and telling it how to craft its own abortion laws.”
“Protection of the unborn is something that Alabamians feel strongly about but also the protection of those who undergo abortions has to be a priority as well. I hope, on appeal, the courts will reinstate this law,” Aderholt added..
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