After a recent court ruling, many practitioners of midwifery are celebrating. The 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Montgomery ruled on Thursday to block the Alabama Department of Public Health’s current policy on birthing centers, which would have limited their ability to practice.
The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama on behalf of three birthing centers and the Alabama affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. The lawsuit came after the Alabama Department of Public Health announced new regulations which would require all birth centers to be within 30 minutes of a hospital with OB-GYN services and to have oversight from a physician or medical director.
After ADPH adopted the new rules, a temporary injunction was placed preventing them from coming into effect. Now, the court has ruled that the Alabama Legislature has not granted the ADPH the authority to govern birthing centers, since they are not hospitals. Based on this ruling, birth centers will be regulated by the Board of Midwifery and any other relevant professional boards established by the Legislature.
The ACLU of Alabama released a statement celebrating the court’s ruling, describing birth centers as critical for “low-risk pregnant Alabamians.”
“In a state facing a maternal health crisis, we need more options, not fewer,” said JaTaune Gilchrist, the executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. “This decision brings us one step closer to ensuring that safe, accessible, and community-based birthing care is available to everyone who needs it.”
According to Alabama law, all birthing centers and midwives in the state currently must acquire a license from the state Board of Midwifery and must have “obtained a certified professional midwife credential through an education program or pathway accredited by the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council.”
Alabama top stories in brief
Ivey signs bill to provide presumptive Medicaid for pregnant Alabamians
- SB102, which was sponsored by Sen. Linda Colman-Madison, D-Birmingham, was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey on May 1.
- The purpose of the bill is to allow easier access to care for pregnant women by allowing them to be approved for access to Medicaid prior to their official application being approved for a period of 60 days.
Senate committee approves bill limiting discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation for older students
- HB244 would expand Alabama’s current limits on classroom discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation from K-5 to include K-12.
- Additionally, the bill prohibits LGBTQ+ connected materials, such as pride flags, from being displayed in classrooms.
- The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, said that the ban would only impact classroom discussions, not conversations between students and education employees.
- While the bill was passed out of the committee, Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, said that it was unlikely to be passed by the senate given that there are only three days remaining in the 2025 legislative session.
Bill proposing constitutional amendment expanding Aniah’s Law passes House
- Aniah’s Law, which was approved as an amendment to Alabama’s constitution in 2022, expanded the list of crimes for which a judge could deny bond.
- Prior to Aniah’s Law, bond could only be denied for capital murder.
- Aniah’s Law added kidnapping, rape, sodomy, sexual torture, domestic violence, human traficking, burglary, arson, robbery, terrorism and aggravated child abuse.
- SB118 would allow for a constitutional amendment to include attempting or conspiring to commit murder or discharging a firearm into an occupied building as reasons a judge could choose to deny bond.
- The bill was passed by the House on April 29.
- Amendments to the Alabama Constitution must be approved by voters.
Revoked international students visas are reinstated
- Several international visas for students and campus personnel at Alabama universities that were previously revoked have now been reinstated.
- Auburn University announced in mid-April that 15 students and personnel’s visas were revoked by the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
- Troy University also announced that two students who had previously had their visas revoked have now had them reinstated.
House passes bill to change AHSAA classification based on English language learners student population
- The House passed a bill that would change the current classification methods used by Alabama High School Athletic Association in determining the competition level for Alabama public high schools.
- If signed into law, HB298 would adjust current methods used by the AHSAA to exclude students classified as English language learner students who do not participate in sports from being counted when deciding the schools size classification.
- Additionally, it would allow the House and Senate each to place a member of their body on the AHSAA board as a non-voting member.
- The legislation would come into effect for the 2026-2027 athletic calendar.
- Heath Harmon, the executive director of the AHSAA, expressed concern that the legislation might lead to ELL students being discouraged from participating in sports in order to lower a schools classification level.
Announcements
- We’ve officially launched the Alabama Spotlight, our new multimedia project focusing on people, places and things unique to Alabama. You can listen to the first episode about our trip to Spectre, an abandoned movie set from the film “Big Fish” on Spotify.
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