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A group of health care providers filed a lawsuit in July 2023 year after Attorney General Marshall explicitly that anyone who assists a pregnant Alabamian in accessing legal, out-of-state abortion care could face felony charges. In states like Alabama where abortion bans are in effect, the ability of local health care providers to share information and recommendations for specific, trusted out-of-state abortion care providers, as well as information about where people can obtain financial and practical support resources to access out-of-state abortion care, is essential for helping patients to obtain a full range of vital care, and is a lifeline for patients who need abortion care.

As a result of the attorney general's threats, health care providers who filed the lawsuit were forced to stop providing critical information, counseling, as well as practical support to Alabamians who seek to exercise their constitutional right to cross state lines and obtain medical care that is legal in states outside of Alabama. The threatened prosecutions would blatantly violate numerous fundamental constitutional rights, such as the rights to free speech, due process, and to travel freely across state lines.

The lawsuit, West Alabama Women’s Center, et al. v. Marshall, et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery by the ºìÐÓÊÓƵ and the ºìÐÓÊÓƵ of Alabama on behalf of West Alabama Women’s Center, Dr. Yashica Robinson, and Alabama Women’s Center.

A similar case was filed in federal court by the Lawyering Project on behalf of the Yellowhammer Fund, an organization that has been unable to provide funding and practical support to pregnant Alabamians seeking out-of-state abortion care due to the threat of criminal prosecution. The cases have since been consolidated.

Despite the attorney general’s attempt to dismiss the case, the court ruled in May 2024 to allow the health care providers to continue their lawsuit, and in March 2025 the federal court held that the attorney general’s threats blatantly violate the constitutional rights to free speech and to travel freely across state lines. As a result of this decision, local health care providers are once again able to share information about and recommendations for specific, trusted out-of-state abortion providers, as well as financial and practical support resources, and can directly assist pregnant people in traveling across state lines, without the threat of criminal prosecution.

This information and direct support are essential for those who need to travel to access abortion care. Indeed, without such assistance, pregnant people living in states that have banned abortion, like Alabama, will be significantly delayed in finding and accessing safe out-of-state abortion care, and potentially even forced to give birth against their will. This could have deadly consequences for Alabamians, who are residing in a state that has the third highest in the nation, and particularly for who make up a disproportionate share of maternal deaths due to systemic racism.