A federal district court in Alabama last month issued a pivotal opinion prohibiting the Alabama attorney general from carrying out his threats to criminally prosecute people who help pregnant Alabamians leave the state to access abortion where it is legal. The court held that the threats violated the Yellowhammer Fund’s right to free expression and their clients’ right to travel.
The opinion in Yellowhammer Fund v. Marshall, which was released March 31, is a decisive victory and a bright spot in the ongoing fight for reproductive justice. After the Alabama attorney general appeared on a local radio show and threatened to prosecute individuals who “promot[e] themselves out as a funder of abortion out of state,” The Lawyering Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center sued on behalf of the Yellowhammer Fund, a nonprofit abortion advocacy and reproductive justice organization serving residents of Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle. The lawsuit describes how the attorney general’s threats violate the Yellowhammer Fund’s rights to free expression, association, travel and due process guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Alabama has enforced a near-total abortion ban since June 24, 2022, the day the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and decades of legal precedent protecting the right to abortion. Strict abortion bans have worsened the maternal health crisis: Alabama, the sixth-poorest state in the country, has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the country. Black people and communities of color disproportionately bear the burdens of these bans and face a heightened risk of criminalization.
Just as those who contributed to The Green Book or took a stand with the Freedom Rides were instrumental to the Civil Rights Movement, abortion funds are the backbone of the reproductive justice movement.
Following the attorney general’s threats, the Yellowhammer Fund ceased operation of its abortion fund — an essential service that provided financial and practical support to Alabamians seeking abortion care in and out of state — out of fear of prosecution. Since its founding in 2017, the Yellowhammer Fund has worked “to ensure individuals and communities have access and autonomy to make healthy choices regarding their bodies and futures,” according to a mission statement on its website.
The recent ruling had an immediate and profound impact — just seven minutes after receiving news of the win, the Yellowhammer Fund provided funding for its first abortion since Dobbs. As the organization put it, this victory means “abortion funds and support networks can continue their work without fear of prosecution. It means that Alabamians have a right to access legal healthcare and do what’s best for themselves and their families.”
This ruling sends a clear message that states cannot weaponize their criminal laws to silence helpers or block access to health care that is legal beyond state borders.
Krista Dolan is a senior supervising attorney for criminal legal system reform at the SPLC.
Image at top: Yellowhammer Fund Executive Director Jenice Fountain, left, and Women in Training President and CEO Adeyela Bennett in July 2023. (Courtesy of Yellowhammer Fund)