[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] on Wednesday requested, as part of their ongoing suit [press release] against the bill, that a federal judge block an Alabama law allowing fetuses legal representation in cases when minors seek abortions. The law, HB 494 [text], requires parent or judicial permission for a minor seeking an abortion, and permits judges to appoint a guardian ad litem to fetuses when a minor is seeking judicial permission. The bill also requires that local district attorneys are notified and permitted an opportunity to question the minor and call witnesses at the hearing. Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama [advocacy website] argues that, “[the bill] puts teens on trial to get a constitutionally protected procedure. It’s adversarial. She loses her anonymity,” while proponents of the measure argue that it permits judges to obtain a more well-rounded answer to the deciding factors of maturity and whether the decision is in the minor’s best interests. Assistant Attorney General William Parker [official profile] said that since 2003, there have been 291 petitions by minors seeking judicial permission for an abortion, and only 10 were denied

Reproductive rights [JURIST backgrounder] have remained a divisive issue throughout the country for decades. Earlier this month the West Virginia Legislature overrode the governor’s veto to pass a bill [JURIST report] banning abortions after 20 weeks. Last month the Kansas Senate approved [JURIST report] a bill that would prohibit a common second trimester abortive procedure by redefining it as a “dismemberment abortion.” Also in February Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood asked the US Supreme Court to allow the state to enforce [JURIST report] an abortion law that was declared unconstitutional by a federal court in 2014. The Montana Supreme Court in February reversed [JURIST report] a decision granting summary judgment to Planned Parenthood in a case challenging two Montana abortion parental consent laws, ordering further proceedings. In January the US House of Representatives passed a bill [JURIST report] that would ban abortions supported by federal funding.