Alabama

Alabama legislators recently passed a law effectively outlawing legal abortion in the state. The governor signed it into law. Other states followed suit quickly, passing their own versions of laws making abortion illegal. Some laws create no exceptions. Emboldened by the perception that adding Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court gave them the votes needed to overturn Roe V. Wade, these states rushed to pass laws to give the Supreme Court the chance to make abortion illegal once and for all. Surprisingly, some anti-abortion activists complained that these laws go too far. Did Alabama, Texas and the other states further the efforts to overturn Roe or did they create an opportunity to finally fully legitimize legal abortions under defined limits? The answer most likely will come from Chief Justice Roberts. Roberts has demonstrated a commitment to lead the court to make decisions on narrow grounds. In these cases, that may mean finding Alabama went too far. That sets up the possibility that Roberts may be the deciding vote to strike down these new laws as being too restrictive and ratifying legal abortion without explanation of what reasonable limitations would be permissible. Alabama may have created the facts necessary to overturn Roe while creating a new standard with stronger protections for legal abortion. Time will tell but Chief Justice Roberts’ legacy may just be determined by the Alabama law.