On Monday, June 30, the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty sent a letter to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall alerting him that Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr is refusing to enforce Alabama’s pro-life laws and urging him to take immediate action to ensure that life is protected in Jefferson County.

Yesterday, The Washington Free Beacon reported that over 80 district attorneys across the country have signed a letter stating that they would not enforce their states’ pro-life laws after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade. The letter was written by Fair and Just Prosecution, a liberal nonprofit funded by George Soros. The letter unequivocally states, “we decline to use our
offices’ resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit to exercise our well-settled discretion and refrain from prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions.” District Attorney Carr’s name appears on the first page of signatures.

Fortunately, Alabama law gives the Attorney General’s Office considerable authority to deal with rogue DA’s. Section 36-15-14 of the Alabama Code provides:

“The Attorney General, either in person or by one of his or her assistants, at any time he or she deems proper, either before or after indictment, may superintend and direct the prosecution of any criminal case in any of the courts of this state. The district attorney prosecuting in such court, upon request, shall assist and act in connection with the Attorney General or his or her assistant in such case.”

Section 36-15-15 of the Alabama Code gives the Attorney General another option, allowing him to “direct any district attorney to aid and assist in the investigation or prosecution of any case in which the state is interested, in any other circuit than that of the district attorney so directed.” In other words, if the Jefferson County DA is unwilling to assist the Attorney General in enforcing the law in that district, the Attorney General can appoint a DA from another district who is willing to enforce the law to step in and ensure that justice is done.

Jefferson County is home to one Planned Parenthood facility. According to The Montgomery Advertiser, this facility had been performing abortions, providing abortion pills, and making abortion referrals until March. “Declining to enforce the law against abortionists in Jefferson County opens the door to the very real possibility that Birmingham’s Planned Parenthood would engage in abortions again,” said Matt Clark, President of the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty. “Alabama’s Human Life Protection Act of 2019, as strong as it is, is only as good as the public officials willing to enforce it,” Clark said.

Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Montgomery, and Mobile were also homes to abortion organizations and facilities. While ACLL does not know whether the DA’s in those jurisdictions intend to replicate Carr’s defiance of Alabama law, the possibility exists that they could if they are sympathetic to abortion. But an immediate response from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office could ensure that refusing to enforce Alabama’s Human Life Protection Act will not succeed.

“On the day that the Supreme Court overruled Roe, Steve Marshall immediately moved to lift the injunction on the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, and his request was granted,” said Clark. “The Alabama Center for Law and Liberty commends the Attorney General for his swift action to ensure that the lives of unborn children were protected as soon as the Supreme Court allowed it. We respectfully urge him to take the same kind of swift action now to ensure that rogue prosecutors do not turn a blind eye to the murder of unborn children in this State.”