California Governor Gavin Newsom released a striking promotional video in response to Alabama’s recent actions, depicting two women attempting to leave the state for an abortion only to be arrested and forced to undergo pregnancy tests. Newsom posted the video on the social media platform X, stating, “Alabama’s abortion ban has no exceptions for rape or incest. Now, Republicans are attempting to criminalize young women seeking abortion care. We cannot let them succeed.”
In the video, two women cross into Alabama to seek abortion. “We’re almost there,” the woman in the passenger seat says. “You will make it.” Just as she says these words, they are stopped by the police and arrested. A voiceover in the video mentions, “Trump Republicans hope to criminalize young Alabama women seeking reproductive care.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the video was produced by Newsom’s Democratic campaign organization, Campaign for Democracy, funded with $10 million from Newsom’s state campaign funds. The organization aims to provide solutions for the national “fight for democratic survival” against the “extremist Republicans” who are “attacking the foundations of a free society.” The video ends with a voiceover urging viewers to take action and sign petitions opposing legislation that bans women from crossing state lines for abortions.
The Travel Rights Movement website notes that Alabama, as well as Tennessee and Oklahoma, are seeking to ban minors from traveling out of state for abortions, “whether in cases of incest or abuse within families.” The website states, “These states are essentially seeking to imprison women and young girls.” This is seen as a nationwide backdoor abortion ban, depriving women of the opportunity to access care in free states and violating the travel rights protected by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In 2019, Alabama passed the “Human Life Protection Act,” which criminalizes abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. A federal judge in Alabama issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which was later lifted following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the “Roy v. Wade” case in June 2022.
According to a report from the Columbia Law Review in 2023, analyzing the legal landscape after the Roy v. Wade case, there have been few precedents where states prosecute their citizens for crimes committed in other states using criminal law. However, there are enough loopholes in the general rule against extraterritorial application of criminal law to prosecute various crimes committed outside a state’s jurisdiction. One example includes a ruling by the California Supreme Court based on the “effects doctrine,” asserting jurisdiction if the crime causes harm within the state.
In February 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are humans, and those who destroy them can be prosecuted. This ruling came after a lawsuit filed by parents against a fertility clinic where a patient broke into a storage area and dropped containers holding embryos, damaging them. The lawsuit culminated in the state Supreme Court’s decision.
Chief Justice Tom Park wrote in his concurring opinion that Alabama has declared “unborn human life is sacred.” “We believe that every person is created in the image of God from the moment of conception, crafted by Him to reflect His image,” he stated.