The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Alabama, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a lawsuit challenging an extreme law that bans abortion in nearly every case and punishes doctors with up to 99 years in prison for providing care.

A federal appeals court struck down Alabama’s law prohibiting physicians from performing a medically proven method of abortion care that some women need.

In Alabama’s criminal justice system, wealth can be synonymous with freedom, and lack of wealth can mean incarceration. That’s wealth-based justice, and it’s unconstitutional. Hundreds of defendants, including Bradley Hester, Ray Charles Schultz, and Randall Parris, are routinely jailed pretrial due to their inability to afford a predetermined bail bond required for release. This system disregards the ramifications of unconstitutional pretrial detention for individuals and families, which include presumption of innocence, economic and emotional hardship, and potential loss of one’s job. We along with partners intervened in a federal class action lawsuit which seeks to end this unlawful detention scheme, and calls on Cullman County to instead implement fair, efficient, alternative conditions of release that are not based on how much money someone has.

Stephanie Hicks was a police officer working for the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force. Just eight days after Agent Hicks returned to work after her maternity leave, she was demoted to a position as a patrol officer.