Can I get an abortion in Alabama?

People look this up because they want a straight answer. Alabama does not allow elective abortion. That includes the abortion pill. Packs still show up in the mail. They are not a quiet way around the law.

This page is the statute in plain words, dated. It is not legal advice. A nurse can sit with the practical part.

Talk with a nurse — free, private.

Last checked against Lawyer slots: 28 Aug 2026.

Alabama law makes it unlawful for any person to intentionally perform or attempt to perform an abortion except as the statute itself provides. The definition includes using or prescribing a medicine or drug with the intent to end a known pregnancy.

What the law is, and when it started working

Alabama’s near-total abortion statute is titled The Alabama Human Life Protection Act. It is Act 2019-189, signed May 15, 2019, effective November 15, 2019. Enforcement as applied to pre-viability abortion began June 24, 2022, when a federal court dissolved the injunction that had blocked it.

The U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs returned authority to prohibit or regulate abortion to the people and their elected representatives. Alabama’s implementing prohibition is this chapter.

This page does not publish a sentence that the Legislature amended Chapter 23H between 2024 and 2026.

For this Act, “unborn child,” “child,” and “person” mean a human being, including an unborn child in utero at any stage of development, regardless of viability.

That definition includes a drug or chemical abortion if the statutory elements are met. It is not only a surgical procedure. FDA’s mifepristone REMS does not make pills lawful in Alabama.

What is not an “abortion” under this Act

The Act’s definition of abortion does not include a procedure or act to terminate the pregnancy of a woman with an ectopic pregnancy.

A procedure to terminate a pregnancy when the unborn child has a lethal anomaly is also excluded from that definition. The Act defines a lethal anomaly as a condition from which the unborn child would die after birth or shortly thereafter, or be stillborn.

If one-sided pelvic pain, shoulder-tip pain, spotting with dizziness, or fainting is happening, that is an emergency-room question. See Sharp pain on one side, or bleeding that won’t stop.

When a physician may act

An abortion is permitted if an attending physician licensed in Alabama determines it is necessary to prevent a serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother. Except in a medical emergency, that determination must be confirmed in writing by a second Alabama-licensed physician within 180 days after the abortion is completed.

“Serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother” means, in reasonable medical judgment, a condition that necessitates terminating the pregnancy to avert the mother’s death or to avert serious risk of substantial physical impairment of a major bodily function. Ordinary emotional-condition or mental-illness claims are excluded from that term, except under a narrow psychiatrist-and-hospital pathway the statute writes separately.

The chapter does not apply to an Alabama-licensed physician performing or assisting a pregnancy termination due to a medical emergency as the Act defines that term.

Alabama law does not let a search result assign this exception. The Act requires a licensed physician to make the finding.

The fetched Act text does not list rape or incest as a permitted ground.

If rape or incest is why you are here, a nurse and a rape-crisis line still matter. See Rape and incest in Alabama law.

Who the Act targets

No woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted shall be criminally or civilly liable under this Act.

That sentence is the woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted. It is not a general immunity for helpers, funds, telehealth prescribers, or out-of-state shippers. Still tell an ER what you took so they can treat you.

A physician who confirms the serious health risk to the child’s mother is not criminally or civilly liable for those confirming actions.

Performing an abortion in violation of the chapter is a Class A felony. An attempted abortion in violation of the chapter is a Class C felony.

Under Alabama’s general felony sentencing statute, a Class A felony is punishable by life, or not more than 99 years or less than 10 years. A Class C felony is punishable by not more than 10 years or less than 1 year and 1 day, with additional constraints in that section.

This page does not tell a reader she will go to jail. The actor the prohibition names is the person who intentionally performs or attempts.

Alabama’s homicide article separately defines “person,” when referring to the victim, as a human being, including an unborn child in utero at any stage of development, regardless of viability. That same article provides that nothing in it shall permit prosecution of any woman with respect to her unborn child. It also says it does not make legal an abortion not otherwise authorized.

Older rules still in the Code — they are not a path to elective abortion

Older Alabama statutes that regulate abortion and conflict with this Act are to be read as repealed as null and void. They remain in effect only if the Act is enjoined pending a final judicial decision.

The Woman’s Right to Know Act still says that, except in a medical emergency, no abortion shall be performed without informed consent, including specified printed materials at least 48 hours before. That same statute requires an ultrasound before the abortion and gives the woman a right to view it.

A still-codified parental-consent statute says no physician shall perform an abortion upon an unemancipated minor without written consent of a parent or legal guardian, except as that chapter otherwise provides. A minor who does not obtain that consent may petition juvenile court for a waiver of the consent requirement.

A 2014 federal challenge to that chapter is closed. There is no lingering federal injunction. This page does not say that 2014 bypass amendments remain enjoined.

None of those older chapters creates a 48-hour, ultrasound, or judicial-bypass pathway to an elective abortion that Chapter 23H prohibits.

Other states, and a hospital emergency

Other states have other laws. This page will not guess them.

If you are thinking about leaving Alabama, the hard parts are time, money, follow-up, and being alone — not a list of destination clinics. See If you’re thinking about leaving the state.

Federal emergency-hospital law (EMTALA) requires participating hospitals with emergency departments to provide an appropriate medical screening exam and, if an emergency medical condition exists, stabilizing treatment or an appropriate transfer. The definition of emergency medical condition includes placing the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy.

CMS’s July 2022 EMTALA abortion guidance (QSO-22-22-Hospitals) was rescinded May 29, 2025. A CMS press release dated June 3, 2025 stated that HHS and CMS are rescinding that July 2022 guidance as not reflecting current Administration policy, and that CMS will continue to enforce EMTALA, including emergency conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy. This page does not treat 2022 CMS interpretations as current policy.

This page does not publish a sentence that EMTALA overrides Alabama’s ban.

If the remaining question is the pill, Considering the abortion pill?. Practical next steps: What do I do now?.

> Emergency. One-sided pelvic pain, pain in the tip of the shoulder, fainting, or bleeding that soaks two thick pads an hour for two hours: 911. If you may harm yourself, 988.

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Independent pregnancy centers named on this site are not a chain and not each other’s branches.

Chat is not medical care. An emergency room is.

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