In Alabama, the current laws on abortion require an insane parental consent law 
to be followed.

Under HB 494, minors who are seeking an abortion without the consent of their parents will now essentially be put on trial. The state even has the ability to appoint a lawyer for the fetus and can call witnesses to argue the teenager’s character, which is something typically not allowed in a trial. The state of Alabama has huge issues with employment and taxes, but they would rather continue to attack those who can get pregnant and give more money to 
lawyers and activists.

Unsurprisingly, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the state of Alabama, Attorney General Luther Strange and Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey over the alternative parental consent requirements. Whether a lawsuit would be filed was not a question in any of the reasonable state representatives minds when they passed this bill. But it’s probably fine with them because they’re providing more money to the lawyers in the state of Alabama and their ideological friends.

The state will have to spend money by hiring experts and the lawyers on both sides will be able to bill their hours defending or attacking the bill. One example of the type of experts called or paid by Alabama is Vincent Rue who was paid $79,087.50 to help defend the admitting privileges law. He is also a man whose anti-abortion testimony and works have been disregarded by courts going all the way back 
to the 1980s.

The law allowing the court to appoint lawyers to argue on behalf of the fetus would certainly help line some lawyers’ pockets as well. The case will result in the state spending more of its increasingly thin resources on cases that will not be upheld in the long run. It’s sad to see the state of Alabama spend its already meager budget on what amounts to a nice payout to lawyers and anti-abortion activists, but that is exactly what has gone on in this state.

Rather than focus on getting jobs, which the state legislature and Bentley have done a terrible job of, or getting together a sustainable tax structure for the state, they would rather continue to bail out lawyers and anti-abortion activists while attacking those who are pregnant. We should keep that in mind whenever people make fun of this state for being backwards, because those gifts to the lawyers and activists in Alabama certainly aren’t helping the average Alabamian.

Matthew Bailey is a third-year law student. His column runs biweekly.