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A three-judge panel found the challenged provisions are unconstitutional because they present substantial obstacles to a minor’s right to an abortion, while providing “incremental benefits at best.”
In this May 17. 2019, abortion opponents kneel in prayer outside Reproductive Health Services, an abortion clinic in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Blake Paterson)
(CN) Alabama cannot enforce a set of amendments to a law allowing a minor to seek approval from a judge instead of her parents for an abortion, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Wednesday in yet another setback to the state’s long-litigated parental consent act.
“We see no problem that the new law helps to cure,” the three-judge panel wrote in the 60-page opinion upholding a lower court order that found the challenged provisions unconstitutional and unenforceable.
Alabama Law Requiring Trial for Minors Seeking an Abortion Struck Down by Circuit Court
On 7/1/21 at 12:02 AM EDT
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court s ruling striking down an Alabama law that would have required minors seeking an abortion without parental permission to face a trial-like court hearing.
The three-judge panel from U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit agreed with a district court decision that found certain amendments to Alabama s Parental Consent Act represent an undue burden for a large fraction of minors seeking abortions without parental consent. The legal challenge was brought by Reproductive Health Services (RHS), the only abortion clinic currently operating in Alabama s Montgomery County.