2 Big Names Just Filed Suit Over 'Extreme' Abortion Law

As states across the country have started passing more restrictive abortion laws, one has now been hit with a federal lawsuit, with two big names behind it. NBC News reports Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint Friday over Alabama's so-called "heartbeat" law, which bans abortion even in cases of rape and incest and makes it a felony to perform one otherwise. The only exception is when the mother's life is at risk. "The Alabama Legislature has been pushing abortion care further and further out of reach for years with medically unnecessary and politically motivated restrictions, and this extreme abortion ban shows us just how far they'll go," an ACLU attorney says in a release.

Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, and Mississippi have also recently put into play stringent abortion laws, and Missouri joined that list on Friday. The ACLU—which is reminding people that none of these laws are yet in effect and that abortion is still legal in all 50 states—already has an injunction blocking the Kentucky ban, and with Planned Parenthood has filed a complaint on Ohio's law and is prepping one for Georgia. Newsweek notes the Alabama law will take effect in November unless it's blocked. "We've been clear: If you attack our constitutional right to reproductive freedom, we will sue," the ACLU tweeted Friday. (More abortion stories.)