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For Immediate Release
June, 11 2013, 01:37pm EDT
Contact:
Robyn Shepherd, ACLU national, 212-519-7829 or 549-2666, media@aclu.org
Susan Watson, ACLU of Alabama, 334-265-2754, swatson@
ACLU and Planned Parenthood Challenge Alabama Law That Would Force Most Clinics in the State to Stop Providing Abortions
MONTGOMERY
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Alabama, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Planned Parenthood Southeast filed a lawsuit today challenging a state law that places medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers that would force most of the clinics in the state to stop providing abortions.
The law, which requires every physician who performs an abortion at a clinic to have staff privileges at a local hospital, is similar to a Mississippi law that was blocked by a federal district court earlier this year. Doctors and leading medical groups, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have opposed such requirements because they are unnecessary for the provision of safe, high-quality health care, and because they prevent women from getting necessary services. Alabama law does not require doctors providing surgery at other health centers to have admitting privileges even for more complicated procedures.
"By forcing most of the abortion clinics in the state to stop providing abortions, this law will make it impossible for some women to get this essential care," said Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. "Politicians have no business placing ideology over the health care needs of Alabama's women by interfering in one of the most personal, private decisions a woman can make."
Unless it is blocked by the court, the law would force three of the state's five abortion clinics, including the Planned Parenthood health centers in Birmingham and Mobile and Reproductive Health Services in Montgomery, to stop providing abortions. Doctors at these clinics are unable to obtain hospital staff privileges due to factors such as the hospital's opposition to abortion or a requirement that physicians admit a minimum number of patients to the hospital. Because abortion is extremely safe, it is impossible for physicians who provide abortions to meet the minimum requirement.
"This law is part of a coordinated national campaign designed to outlaw abortion, state by state," said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, staff attorney at the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. "This law insults women's intelligence by claiming to be about safety, when the true intent is to shut down clinics and prevent a woman from making a real decision about her pregnancy."
If the law is not blocked, the only abortion clinics left in the state will be in Huntsville and Tuscaloosa. There will be no facilities that provide abortions left in any of the state's three most populous cities - Birmingham, Mobile, and Montgomery.
For more information, including legal documents, in this case, please visit:
aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/planned-parenthood-southeast-inc-reproductive-health-services-et-al-v-bentley
The lawsuit will be discussed on a press call at 4 p.m. ET. Speakers will include:
Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama
Staci Fox, CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast
Anne Davis, MD, PhD., consulting medical director at Physicians for Reproductive Health
Carrie Flaxman, Staff Attorney, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
Data Reveals Trump Economy Added Hundreds of Thousands Fewer Jobs in 2025 Than Previously Reported
"Today’s numbers show that the economy spent 2025 treading water while costs surged and families fell further behind."
Feb 11, 2026
Revised federal data released Wednesday shows that the US economy under the stewardship of President Donald Trump added hundreds of thousands fewer jobs in 2025 than previously reported, further undercutting the president's claim to have ushered in the "greatest" economy in history.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday that US employers added just 181,000 jobs last year, an average of roughly 15,000 per month. That's roughly 69% fewer than the previous estimate of 584,000 jobs created in 2025.
Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive advocacy group, said the updated figures paint "a grim picture" of the job market under Trump, who has repeatedly promised—and taken credit for bringing about—an economic boom.
“Today’s numbers show that the economy spent 2025 treading water while costs surged and families fell further behind," said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork. "Job growth was dramatically weaker than advertised and concentrated nearly entirely in healthcare, leaving the rest of the labor market to stall. Opportunities are drying up outside a handful of sectors, and more and more workers are settling for part-time hours or have stopped looking for work entirely. 2025 was a lost year for American workers."
Daniel Zhao, chief economist at the employment site Glassdoor, told the New York Times in response to the revised numbers that "we’ve been hearing from workers that the job market is not working for them for some time."
“The anecdotes are starting to align with the data," Zhao added.
A separate analysis released Wednesday by Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) found that the US lost 108,000 manufacturing jobs during the first year of Trump's second term in the White House, despite the president's pledge to revive American industry through his tariff regime.
“While President Trump promised us a manufacturing boom, the reality of his first year has been a bust,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), the JEC's ranking member. “It is critical for both our national security and our economic future that we grow our manufacturing sector. The president has instead spent his first year burdening manufacturers with reckless tariffs, and this loss of jobs is the result."
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"China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference," a Beijing spokesperson said.
Feb 11, 2026
As the Trump administration weaponizes its economic privation of the Cuban people in hopes of ousting their socialist government, China on Tuesday reaffirmed its pledge to help alleviate the island's worsening oil shortage.
Emboldened by his recent abduction of socialist Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on legally dubious "narco-terrorism" charges, President Donald Trump is ratcheting up pressure on a people already ravaged by 64 years of what many critics call Washington's "economic terrorism" and decades of actual terrorism committed by US-based right-wing Cuban exiles.
Cut off from the Venezuelan petroleum that provided around 75% of Cuba's imported oil just a few years ago, the island is suffering a worsening energy emergency. The Cuban government has responded by strictly rationing fuel and seeking alternate sources of oil such as Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Russia.
"I would like to stress again that China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a press conference.
"China stands firmly against the inhumane actions that deprive the Cuban people of their right to subsistence and development," he added. "China will, as always, do our best to provide support and assistance to Cuba."
As is usually the case when Washington tightens the screws on Cuba, everyday Cubans are suffering the most.
“You can’t imagine how it touches every part of our lives,” Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city of Holguín, told CodePink co-founder and frequent Common Dreams opinion contributor Medea Benjamin, who traveled to Cuba last week with a group to deliver 2,500 pounds of lentils.
“It’s a vicious, all-encompassing spiral downward," Jiménez continued. "With no gasoline, buses don’t run, so we can’t get to work. We have electricity only three to six hours a day. There’s no gas for cooking, so we’re burning wood and charcoal in our apartments. It’s like going back 100 years."
"The blockade is suffocating us—especially single mothers,” she added, “and no one is stopping these demons, Trump and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio.”
The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly every year but once since 1992 to condemn the US blockade on Cuba. Last October, the UNGA voted 165-7 against the embargo, with 12 abstentions.
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Pam Bondi Refuses to Apologize to Epstein Survivors Standing Right Behind Her During House Hearing
"Your Department of Justice initially released this list of 32 survivors' names, with only one name redacted," Rep. Pramila Jayapal told Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Feb 11, 2026
US Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday refused to apologize to victims of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a contentious hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.
During the hearing, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) grilled Bondi on why her office failed repeatedly to comply with a law passed in 2025 requiring the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to release "all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein."
In particular, Jayapal noted that some of the files released by the DOJ so far have kept victims' names intact, even while redacting the names of several powerful men who are implicated in Epstein's sex trafficking operation.
"Your Department of Justice initially released this list of 32 survivors' names, with only one name redacted," said Jayapal, who then slammed the DOJ for releasing files that not only included victims' names but also their email and residential addresses, and even nude photographs of them.
🚨HISTORIC. Rep. Jayapal asks Epstein survivors to raise their hand if they still haven't been invited to meet with Pam Bondi or the DOJ.
Every single one raises their hand.
Sometimes gestures are more powerful than words. Damn this Administration.
pic.twitter.com/jyYG7Mj6tN
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) February 11, 2026
"Survivors are now telling us that their families are finding out for the first time that they were trafficked by Epstein," Jayapal continued. "In their words, 'This release does not provide closure, it feels like a deliberate attempt to intimidate survivors, punish those who came forward, and reinforce the same culture of secrecy that allowed Epstein's crimes to continue for decades.'"
Jayapal then invited the Epstein survivors who were in attendance at the hearing to stand if they so wished, and asked them to raise their hands if they had still yet to meet with the DOJ to discuss the case.
After several women stood and raised their hands, Jayapal asked Bondi if she would apologize to them failing to redact their names and personal information before releasing the Epstein files.
Bondi responded by trying to deflect blame for past failures onto former Attorney General Merrick Garland. Jayapal interrupted the attorney general and asked her if she would apologize to the survivors for disclosing their information.
Bondi again tried to redirect the conversation to Garland, after which Jayapal again objected.
Finally, Bondi responded, "I'm not going to get in the gutter for [Jayapal's] theatrics."
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