Alabama’s Threats to Prosecute Abortion Helpers

Summary

Detailed Summary of "Alabama’s Threats to Prosecute Abortion Helpers" – Reveal Podcast

Introduction

In the episode titled "Alabama’s Threats to Prosecute Abortion Helpers," Reveal delves deep into the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and its profound impact on abortion services and advocacy in Alabama. Hosted by Al Letson and reported by Nina Martin, the episode explores the legal, social, and personal ramifications of the ruling, focusing on the resilience and adaptation of local abortion advocacy groups in the face of stringent anti-abortion laws.

The Overturning of Roe v. Wade and Its Immediate Impact

The episode opens with Robyn Marty, the Director of Operations at West Alabama's Women's Center, recounting the chaotic moments following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Robyn describes being on live television with CNN during the announcement:

Robyn Marty [01:35]: "I felt it go off again. And I'm literally still talking to CNN as I flip my phone over and see it's two texts. ... the Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade and I need to tell my staff, okay, we are still."

The immediate cessation of abortion services in Alabama left the clinic in a state of turmoil, highlighting the precarious situation for both providers and patients.

Alabama’s Criminal Conspiracy Threats

Following the ruling, Alabama implemented a law that broadly criminalizes abortion, with severe penalties for anyone involved in performing or assisting abortions. Robyn Marty explains the gravity of the situation:

Robyn Marty [04:01]: "If we have a patient who comes in who is pregnant and they say, I want to get an abortion, I know that you can't do that here. Where can I go? We can't tell them, because according to the Attorney General, that would be the start of a criminal conspiracy."

Attorney General Steve Marshall from Alabama leveraged an outdated 1896 conspiracy law to threaten prosecution of individuals and organizations assisting patients in obtaining abortions out of state. This legal maneuver aimed to intimidate and restrict any form of support beyond direct medical services.

Yellowhammer Abortion Fund’s Transformation

Janiece Fountain, Executive Director of Yellowhammer Abortion Fund, shares her personal journey and the formation of the organization in response to the dire needs of women in Alabama. Yellowhammer began as a grassroots initiative, evolving into a nonprofit dedicated to reproductive and family justice. Janiece emphasizes the interconnectedness of various support systems:

Janiece Fountain [24:07]: "I think the biggest learning experience is just that we've got to as an abortion rights movement stop being just about abortion rights and go deeper than that."

Facing legal threats, Yellowhammer expanded its services to include comprehensive support such as safe sex kits, birth control, diapers, and food assistance, effectively pivoting to address broader family justice issues.

The Legal Battle with Steve Marshall

The heart of the episode centers on the legal confrontation between Yellowhammer and Attorney General Steve Marshall. The organization filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the conspiracy law, arguing that assisting with abortions across state lines is protected under the First Amendment and the fundamental right to travel. Nina Martin narrates the intense courtroom battle:

Nina Martin [17:03]: "The lawsuit asked the court to block prosecutors from going after groups like Yellowhammer if they help people get abortions out of state."

The legal team behind Yellowhammer aimed to set a precedent that safeguards not only their operations but also the rights of similar advocacy groups nationwide.

Victory and Its Implications

In a landmark ruling, the court sided with Yellowhammer, striking down Alabama's attempt to criminalize assistance with out-of-state abortions. The judge highlighted the absurdity of applying the conspiracy law to expressive conduct, likening it to prosecuting individuals for organizing bachelor parties out of state. Janiece Fountain reflects on the victory:

Janiece Fountain [49:12]: "Like, this is wild."

This decision reinstated Yellowhammer's ability to fund and assist abortion services without fear of prosecution, marking a significant triumph for reproductive rights advocates in Alabama.

Lessons and Broader Implications

Despite the victory, the episode underscores that the fight for abortion rights is far from over. Other states like Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas are enacting similar laws to restrict assistance with abortions, indicating a broader national backlash. The episode concludes with a reflection on the enduring challenges:

Janiece Fountain [51:19]: "I think the biggest learning experience is just that we've got to as an abortion rights movement stop being just about abortion rights and go deeper than that."

Yellowhammer’s experience serves as both a cautionary tale and a blueprint for other advocacy groups, emphasizing the necessity of comprehensive support systems and legal strategies to navigate an increasingly hostile legislative environment.

Conclusion

"Alabama’s Threats to Prosecute Abortion Helpers" offers a poignant exploration of the intersection between law, advocacy, and personal resilience in the wake of pivotal judicial decisions. Through compelling narratives and firsthand accounts, Reveal illuminates the ongoing struggle for reproductive justice and the unyielding spirit of those committed to defending it.

Notable Quotes:

• Robyn Marty [01:35]: "the Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade and I need to tell my staff, okay, we are still."

• Robyn Marty [04:01]: "If we have a patient who comes in who is pregnant... we can't tell them, because according to the Attorney General, that would be the start of a criminal conspiracy."

• Janiece Fountain [24:07]: "we've got to as an abortion rights movement stop being just about abortion rights and go deeper than that."

• Janiece Fountain [49:12]: "Like, this is wild."

• Janiece Fountain [51:19]: "we've got to as an abortion rights movement stop being just about abortion rights and go deeper than that."

Key Takeaways:

• The overturning of Roe v. Wade led to immediate and severe restrictions on abortion services in Alabama, with expansive legal threats against those assisting.

• Alabama's Attorney General Steve Marshall utilized an old conspiracy law to intimidate and potentially prosecute abortion helpers.

• Yellowhammer Abortion Fund adapted by broadening its mission to include family justice, offering comprehensive support beyond just abortion services.

• A pivotal lawsuit against the Attorney General resulted in a favorable court ruling, protecting the rights of abortion advocacy groups in Alabama.

• The battle in Alabama reflects a larger national trend of increasing restrictions on abortion rights and support systems, highlighting the need for robust legal and community-based responses.

Overall, this episode of Reveal provides an in-depth look at the challenges and victories faced by abortion advocates in Alabama, offering valuable insights into the broader struggle for reproductive justice in the United States.

Transcript

[Al Letson]

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[Nina Martin]

From the center for Investigative Reporting in prx, this is reveal. I'm Al Letson. Robyn Marty was on national television when Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022.

[Robyn Marty]

It was Friday and I was asked to do a live segment with CNN Headline News.

[Al Letson]

You want to bring in Robyn Marty. She's director of operations of West Alabama's Women's Center. Robin, good morning. So you are in Alabama. If this happens, if Roe vs Wade is overturned, how does that impact your facility there today?

[Robyn Marty]

Right.

[Nina Martin]

So at the time, Robyn was running an abortion clinic in Tuscaloosa, the West Alabama Women's Center. Abortions were already extremely restricted in the state and the clinic was performing almost 40% of them. Robyn is calling in from her home office, but CNN has her on a split screen with the protesters gathered outside of the Supreme Court.

[Robyn Marty]

So in Alabama, we have a law that is on the books that states that all abortion is illegal. And our understanding is that that means that the mom, the court says Roe v. Wade is gone. We will immediately stop all services in.

[Nina Martin]

Order to the Alabama law that would go into effect if and when Roe fell would make abortion illegal in virtually all circumstances. Under the law, anyone performing an abortion could face up to life in prison.

[Robyn Marty]

My biggest fear was that there was going to be a ruling and I wouldn't know right away. And so I wouldn't stop, stop the staff and everybody would get in trouble. Sorry, I, I'm distracted by Twitter because I'm watching for updates. So one of the lawyers I was working with promised me that she would text me as soon as a ruling came down. And so here I was talking to CNN and I could feel my phone going off. If they have already taken the pill, they are fine. If they are in the waiting room waiting to receive the pill, we will not be able to give it to them. And then I felt it go off again. And I'm literally still talking to CNN as I flip my phone over and see it's two texts. The first one is and the second one is Stop because she told me that she was going to text stop at me when I needed to stop, comes down and I actually have to go because the Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade and I need to tell my staff, okay, we are still.

[Al Letson]

Working to confirm this, but we do know the Supreme Court has issued a major abortion ruling. We are getting information that the Supreme Court indeed has overturned Roe v. Wade.

[Robyn Marty]

It was. It was chaos after that. Everything was pure chaos.

[Nina Martin]

Almost immediately, Robyn and her staff shift their focus to getting their patients out of Alabama.

[Robyn Marty]

We had reached out to a clinic in Atlanta and already had prearranged that we were providing traveling money for. For the patients that would have to go.

[Nina Martin]

But that same day, Robyn gets a call from a state lawmaker who tells her that has to stop too.

[Robyn Marty]

He's like, robyn, if you try to get those patients somewhere else, they're gonna come after you. They're gonna come after you for criminal conspiracy.

[Nina Martin]

This lawmaker was warning Robin about an Alabama criminal conspiracy law from 1896. It says if something's illegal in Alabama, you can't help someone do it in another state. He warned that the state's Attorney general, Steve Marshall, could use that law to prosecute anyone for helping someone leave Alabama for an abortion. Even giving information could be considered help.

[Robyn Marty]

And what this means is that if we have a patient who comes in who is pregnant and they say, I want to get an abortion, I know that you can't do that here. Where can I go? We can't tell them, because according to the Attorney general, that would be the start of a criminal conspiracy.

[Nina Martin]

Marshall's threats against abortion helpers sparked an epic legal battle that has implications for some of the most basic American the right to travel, the right to free speech, the right to give and receive help. For three years reveals Nina Martin has been following how Alabama abortion advocates have adapted to one of the strictest anti abortion policies in the country. Nina picks up the story with the hard decisions Robin's clinic had to make in the days after the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs case.

[Al Letson]

I meet Robyn a couple of days after Donald Trump's second inauguration. We're in a cluttered back office at the West Alabama Women's Center. In those first weeks after Roe fell, the clinic basically went dark.

[Robyn Marty]

The staff had to keep the lights off. I actually ended up sending them home to make calls from home because there were people coming to the doors.

[Al Letson]

Robyn's clinic had been targeted before. Back in 2020, West Alabama women's center had hired a new abortion doctor, and the state medical board immediately came after her license. For almost seven months, the doctor couldn't offer abortions or any medical care at all. So Robyn was taking the criminal conspiracy threat seriously. It was crushing for her and her team, but it was much worse for their patients.

[Robyn Marty]

I remember I was sitting at that desk back over there and one of our medical assistants came in sobbing. She was on the phone with somebody who was asking for an abortion. And the patient was like, where do I go? Tell me where to go. And she was like, we can't do that because of Alabama law. And the patient apparently said, well, then I guess I'm just going to get in a car and wrap it around a tree then, and hung up.

[Al Letson]

The criminal conspiracy threat added a new level of paranoia to every interaction with a patient, Even if all a patient said they wanted was information. Because what if the patient was actually an anti abortion activist?

[Robyn Marty]

We can't trust a patient. We can't assume that the patient who is talking to us is really in crisis, really needs this information because it could always be an auntie who is just trying to get us on the record so that they can file something against us. On the other hand, this is also making it so that patients can't trust their doctors because we've seen the people who are not able to find out where they can go when they need an abortion for medical reasons. This has destroyed the doctor patient relationship.

[Al Letson]

The center reopened after a few weeks, but in a way that wouldn't risk anyone going to jail. The staff now offered all kinds of reproductive care, prenatal visits, some gender affirming care, everything except abortions and no specific information on how to get one. Meanwhile, Alabama's Attorney General Steve Marshall was making it clear his office really would go after abortion helpers down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Welcome back to the Jeff Poor show at FMTalk10 5. Thank you very much for staying with us on this Thursday morning. In August of 2022, Marshall made an appearance on the Jeff Poor Show, a conservative talk radio show out of Mobile. Always pleasure to bring all my next guests. Very kind to come on. Attorney General Steve Marshall joins us. General, good morning. How are you?

[Steve Marshall]

Good morning, Jeff.

[Al Letson]

Good to be with you. Good to be down on the coast. Jeff Poor digs into the recent Dobbs decision and the rumors that Marshall will use the criminal conspiracy law to prosecute people helping abortion patients get out of state. Is that, is that really something that is on your radar that needs to be cleaned up or that it really is part of the wall? We don't keep, we keep losing him here anyway, so Jeff Poor asks a version of this question about three separate times, but Marshall's phone connection keeps dropping. So we got you again. There, General.

[Steve Marshall]

Yeah.

[Al Letson]

And I think I understand your question. Let me see if I can sort of approach a little bit. Marshall makes clear he's not planning to go after abortion patients. You know, there's nothing about that wall that restricts any individual from driving across state lines and seeking an abortion in another place. However, he would use the conspiracy law against people helping them go out of state. If someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortion out of state, then that is potentially criminally actionable for us.

[Steve Marshall]

And so one thing that we will.

[Al Letson]

Do in working with local law enforcement and prosecutors is making sure that we.

[Steve Marshall]

Fully implement this law.

[Al Letson]

And he gets specific singling out groups in Tuscaloosa. That's where Robin Marty's clinic is, and that's where the clinic's former owner was based, the Yellowhammer Abortion Fund. There's groups, and we've seen groups out of Tuscaloosa, for example, that at one point in time and talked about it. Some of they're doing it now. But if they are promoting this as part of their services, we clearly will be taking a look at that.

[Steve Marshall]

He got on a radio station and said, well, we're also looking at that group out of Tuscaloosa that helps people get out of state. We're from Tuscaloosa.

[Al Letson]

Janice Fountain is the executive director of Yellowhammer. The first time I talked to her was last summer.

[Steve Marshall]

I'm sorry, I'm also. It's summertime. My kids are home.

[Al Letson]

I totally understand.

[Steve Marshall]

You're supposed to be taking a napa.

[Al Letson]

Yellowhammer was founded to help people figure out where to get abortion care and to help them pay for it. Anything from travel costs to childcare to the abortion itself. They're the only abortion fund in Alabama. And before Dobbs, they were getting up to 100 calls a week. Then when it became clear that the Supreme Court was going to overturn Roe, abortion funds around the country began planning to send more and more women out of state. Yellowhammer had already been doing that for years.

[Steve Marshall]

So we were expecting to have to like, ramp up what we did in terms of getting people out of state. But with the threat from the attorney general of criminal conspiracy, we got legal advice that said, hey, don't do anything around abortion at all. And we were like, this is completely aside from what we set out to do.

[Al Letson]

And as Janiece points out, a lot of things are illegal in Alabama. Casino style gambling, recreational marijuana, selling sex toys. But the only targets Marshall was talking about for this conspiracy law were abortion helpers.

[Steve Marshall]

Right? People go smoke weed in Cali. And it's not like, oh, did you not smoke weed in a different state? So, like, as soon as we offer tips as people get out of state, then it's like, well, maybe you should go to prison for that.

[Al Letson]

Like, with Robin Marty's clinic, Yellowhammer's abortion related work had to stop.

[Steve Marshall]

And then we kind of landed on having to provide first amendment protected information in a really third person way.

[Al Letson]

All Yellowhammer was allowed to do was give people links to news articles or to websites that talked about abortion in.

[Steve Marshall]

Abstract ways, but never just like explicitly. This is what you need to do to advocate for yourself in this moment, and this is how we can help.

[Al Letson]

But the reality is that people just stopped calling. They were afraid of getting prosecuted for asking for help. And if anyone did call Yellowhammer, this is what they heard.

[Janiece Fountain]

Thank you for calling the yellowhammer Fund. Due to changes in state law that took effect on June 24, 2022, we have temporarily suspended our abortion funding program.

[Al Letson]

Eventually, abortion advocates decide to they've had enough. Yellowhammer and the West Alabama Women's center decide to take the Attorney general to court.

[Nina Martin]

Up next, like, hey, do y' all.

[Steve Marshall]

Want to sue for that? And we're like, yes, yes, we do. Please, where do we sign our names?

[Nina Martin]

And Nina follows how abortion activists in Alabama are adjusting to the changing legal landscape. You're listening to Reveal.

[Al Letson]

If you're listening to this show, you care about stories that investigate the truth and impact millions. I'm Danielle Elliott, and on Climbing the Walls, I'm digging into the rise of ADHD diagnoses among women. I'm exploring what happens now that the world is finally starting to catch up with what women have been saying for decades.

[Steve Marshall]

I don't know what happened, but the algorithm heard the conversation and figured out, like, you're a black woman with adhd.

[Al Letson]

We still get misdiagnosed with depression or they see depression, but they don't see.

[Steve Marshall]

The ADHD component to it or the comorbidity.

[Al Letson]

Join me as we explore why women.

[Steve Marshall]

Have been left out of the ADHD.

[Al Letson]

Conversation for so long. We're talking to mental health experts, sharing real stories and uncovering the truths that you need to hear to listen to. Climbing the Walls. Search for Climbing the Walls in your favorite podcast app. Imagine if every person in Texas, New York and Florida suddenly lost their home. That still wouldn't equal the 120/million people who've fled war and persecution. Right now, the UN refugee agency is responding in 136 countries. But as violence escalates your help is needed. Donate today and critical relief will reach a refugee family within 72 hours. While we can't rebuild their home overnight, your gift will provide food, shelter and help for the Future. Go to unrefugees.org donation to make your gift. Hi, this is Marla from the human resources team at the center for Investigative Reporting. Subscriptions, paywalls? No, not here. We believe that groundbreaking journalism should be accessible to everyone. If you can pitch in just a little, please donate today. Just text the word give to 88857, Reveal. That's 888-577-3832 or visit revealnews.org donate no.

[Steve Marshall]

Gift is too.

[Nina Martin]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. This is reveal. I'm Al Ledson. Two months after the Dobbs decision that ended the federal right to an abortion, Jamila Johnson found herself on a long train trip through the south and Midwest.

[Steve Marshall]

I took a ride with black activists from Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee on the Amtrak to Chicago. With 40 hours, you don't have a lot to do but to think.

[Nina Martin]

Jamila is a civil rights attorney, and the trip was a part of something called the Black August Freedom Rides. It was meant to trace the journey that people from Southern states with abortion bans would have to take to get abortion care for many. The nearest accessible clinics were in Illinois.

[Steve Marshall]

And I thought about how hard travel was and how hard that was going to be for people who'd never left the states that they'd lived in, who didn't have a car in their household that they could take for a journey like this. In some ways, that radicalized me.

[Nina Martin]

In no place were the hurdles to care greater than in Alabama. Not only was abortion illegal, but the state's attorney general, Steve Marshall, was threatening to prosecute anyone helping people get abortions out of state.

[Steve Marshall]

I was going to do anything that I could to stop the law from making it harder for these people who needed to take these journeys. So by the time I left on my, like, Amtrak ride home, I had an interview at Lowering Project, and I started in December.

[Nina Martin]

The Loring Project is a law firm focused on reproductive justice issues. And when she started there, one of Jamila's first cases was the Yellowhammer Abortion Fund lawsuit against Steve Marshall.

[Steve Marshall]

What we saw in Alabama was something we hadn't seen in other states, which was an immediate effort to get on the airwaves and tell people that the helpers would be prosecuted. No other state did that happen in in this way and as quickly and as forcefully as happened in Alabama and the lawsuit is the result of that.

[Nina Martin]

The lawsuit asked the court to block prosecutors from going after groups like Yellowhammer if they help people get abortions out of state. Marshall argues that an 1890s era conspiracy law makes that help a criminal offense. Jamilla and her colleagues argue that this kind of abortion help is protected by the First Amendment and the fundamental right to travel. No abortion helper had been charged yet with criminal conspiracy. And, and the goal was to make sure that never happened.

[Steve Marshall]

I mean, by the Attorney general's logic, the attorney General could extend it to friends, family, neighbors, like the. The chill and the threats are all meant to stop people from calling not just Yellowhammer fund, but calling their mother.

[Nina Martin]

Alabama's laws and policies often start out seeming extreme compared to the rest of the country. But they end up being bellwethers. As reveals Nina Martin explains, Steve Marshall's threats against help are part of that same pattern. And they're happening in a place where help is often in short supply.

[Al Letson]

The thing about Alabama is what starts in Alabama doesn't stay in Alabama. A good example is the state's near total abortion ban. When it first passed in 2019, it was the most restrictive abortion law in the country since Roe vs. Wade. Today, 11 other states have similar laws on the books. Another example is fetal personhood, which is now a major part of the national conservative playbook. Alabama's Supreme Court was the first to embrace the idea that fetuses or even embryos should have the same legal rights as anyone else. When I started reporting in the state more than 10 years ago, I went to investigate yet another policy that at the time was far out on the legal fringes. And one of the people I spoke with was a district attorney in northern Alabama, a younger, more media friendly Steve Marshall. Okay, great. We should be good to go. I would love to just kind of have you take me through to the extent that you have patience for that. Yeah, no, no, no, no. I mean, this is a, this is an issue that's very important to me.

[Steve Marshall]

So that's great.

[Al Letson]

At the time I was covering sex and gender issues for ProPublica. I spoke with Marshall for almost two hours. That's a really big difference from today when he hasn't given me an interview or even acknowledged my calls and emails. Back then, Marshall was approachable and excited to talk to me about how he was trying to solve what he saw as a major problem in his jurisdiction, Marshall County.

[Steve Marshall]

And I did not change my name.

[Al Letson]

To the same as the county that is completely fortuitous. Local doctors Were calling his office, reporting numerous cases of premature babies. They believe the babies were being born that way because their mothers were using illegal drugs during pregnancy at that point, mainly meth. So we kind of had a powwow with our hospital staff, with obgyns, with pediatricians, to say, you know, from a public health standpoint, a law enforcement standpoint, are there ways that we can discourage.

[Steve Marshall]

And deter this behavior?

[Al Letson]

Marshall found his answer in an existing law nicknamed the meth lab law. Passed in 2006 during the height of the state's meth epidemic, the law made it a form of child abuse to expose kids to places where. Where controlled substances were made or distributed like meth labs. The punishment was up to 10 years behind bars and up to life in prison if a child died. Steve Marshall's innovation was to use this law to prosecute new mothers whose babies tested positive for illegal drugs. The argument was, in Alabama, a fetus is considered a child. So a womb with drugs in it is basically the same as a meth lab.

[Steve Marshall]

Typically, if baby's positive mama is going from hospital once she stabilized, to jail with a jail to treatment order.

[Al Letson]

So new mothers would be sent from jail to a drug treatment program, and the baby would go to a relative or foster care. The goal, after treatment, was to drop the criminal charges and return kids to their moms. But this process could take years, and it didn't always work out. We wanted to find a mechanism through both the criminal justice system and social services to get mama clean, get kids safe, and hopefully encourage a reunification of that family. Back then and still, Alabama was by far the most punitive state in the country towards pregnant women who use drugs. Steve Marshall was by no means the most aggressive district attorney in Alabama on these cases. When I spoke to Marshall, he seemed proud to be one of the first prosecutors in the state to use the law this way. And what I most remember from my interview with him was his suggestion that punishment could be a form of help. You know, kind of the term of art is coercive treatment, if you will, coerced treatment. And that's kind of what drug court is, is coerced treatment, in that you kind of got this carrot and stick approach. His argument was that by throwing women in jail, separating them from their newborns, threatening them with prison, you were helping them because you were forcing them to get treatment for their drug problems. You know, I think we feel pretty comfortable about what we're doing, and we feel very much that we are treating people fairly. After I talked to Marshall, I spoke with a Lot of women around the state about this idea of help, including some who'd been arrested under the meth lab law. What they told me was Alabama was all stick and no carrot. Mostly these women told me about the enormous barriers to basics like health insurance, childcare, food and housing. It was the first time I had thought about help as a reproductive justice issue. But that idea has animated Yellowhammer Fund's executive director, Janiece Fountain, from the very beginning.

[Steve Marshall]

I don't think the state wants its constituents to have agency or autonomy. I think folks that are too tired, too worn down, can't fight back. And then they don't organize as much. They don't realize where the state is.

[Al Letson]

Like, screwing them over like Steve Marshall. Janiece was born in rural Alabama. In her case, a very small town outside Tuscaloosa. After her biological mother lost custody of her and her siblings, she was mostly raised by her aunt and ended up in Birmingham for college. She's 33 now with kids of her own, and a lifetime of experience has led her to believe that the state can't ever be counted on.

[Steve Marshall]

I think my entrance to reproductive justice work was through my own, like, struggle. I was actually incredibly angry when I came into the work, maybe even traumatized.

[Al Letson]

In her mid-20s, Janiece was juggling multiple jobs at once. As a cashier at Whole Foods, as a manager of a pizza restaurant, and of course, as a mom.

[Steve Marshall]

I was working, like, at least 50 hours a week and had my son, my oldest son, and I just could not float. Like, I could not feed myself. I was, like, only feeding him. I was, like, borderline homeless and eventually sleeping on someone's floor. And I thought, man, like, the general thought, right, is that you just have to work and then you have what you need. But here I am working and not able to sustain myself, but also not able to get state assistance because I was earning too much money.

[Al Letson]

Janese needed food stamps but didn't qualify. In Alabama, you have to be far, far below the poverty line to be eligible for programs like welfare. Around the same time, Janiece was trying to leave her marriage, and then she discovered she was pregnant.

[Steve Marshall]

And I knew, like, if I carry out another pregnancy because he and I already have four between us, I'm gonna stay. Like, there's gonna be another newborn in the house. I'm gonna make sense of it in my head. I'm gonna say it's easier, and I'm gonna stay in the household.

[Al Letson]

Janiece reached out to Yellowhammer. She was asking for something she never really expected to get help paying for an abortion retroactively.

[Steve Marshall]

And I was like, hey, I need abortion care. And I, like, waited too late to have y' all pay for it. Can y' all, like, assist me, just make up for the money that I lost? And they're like, actually, yeah, that's fine. I was like, wait, really? That was definitely pivotal for me to be able to leave, because if I would have carried another pregnancy, I would have still been. Still been there.

[Al Letson]

This whole traumatic period really underscored something that Janice is thought about a lot in her reproductive justice work. Getting an abortion didn't solve all the other problems she and her family were going through. For that, she relied on a tight group of friends.

[Steve Marshall]

We had a group chat at some point where we were literally passing $20. I'd be like, well, I'm gonna make it to next week. Here's the $20. And Shaquille would be like, oh, I already sent that to Vanessa for next week. You know, we were literally passing it around.

[Al Letson]

Janice can't exactly explain how this thing she was doing with a handful of friends morphed into an actual nonprofit. But expanding beyond her small circle seemed really important. She named it Margins Women Helping black Women.

[Steve Marshall]

People don't care about black women. They just don't. It's just like, well, who's coming? No one's coming. I feel that if we don't create what we need, it won't exist. And I think some of it is almost understandable, because I don't think people in the state that don't have our lived experiences can properly advocate for us. But there's just the reality that they also don't want to.

[Al Letson]

At first, it was just Denise and some volunteers operating out of the back of her Nissan Pathfinder, doing things like pop up pantries and diaper giveaways. Regardless of how they discovered a need in their community, they would try to find a way to help. No strings attached.

[Steve Marshall]

My son, my oldest, was like, mom, somebody stole my backpack. And I'm like, what? And he was like, well, they took the. The contents out, but they, like, took the backpack. I was like, oh, so they really just needed a backpack? And he was like, yeah, but they stole my backpack. And so I was like, well, we just need to just give out backpacks and if that's what folks need.

[Al Letson]

So they started a backpack drive. Crowdfunding on Facebook. Margins has kept doing them for six or seven years now.

[Steve Marshall]

I just wanted to affirm, especially for my son at the time, it was just like, yeah, we could be upset, but what use is it? You have someone at school that needed a thing. Like, let's just figure that out.

[Al Letson]

The more Janiece and her friends kept doing this, the more they realized they could do it on a bigger and bigger scale. Early in the pandemic, when the Birmingham schools went remote and the buses stopped, thousands of kids couldn't get their free school lunches. And for a lot of them, those lunches were their only full meal of the day. So Janiece called together some friends. They started making lunches out of her kitchen and delivering them around the city. She got very good at going on Facebook, at guilting people into donating. She says she raised tens of thousands of dollars this way.

[Steve Marshall]

And my kids help with lunches sometimes. They're like, oh, this is what we were supposed to do. I'm like, yes, this is. This is how life is supposed to be. And now they, like, give away everything out of my house every chance they get. They're like, we have to feed the neighborhood. I'm like, not today, please. And I literally see my son, like, taking, like, full groceries outside. I'm like, wait, like, at least let me go back to the grocery store. He's like, no, they need to eat.

[Al Letson]

This idea of. Of helping each other in a very direct, roll up your sleeves kind of way became familiar to a lot of people during the pandemic. Mutual aid. Janiece had a different term, family justice.

[Steve Marshall]

I think people view some of the facets of, like, family justice work, it's just like, okay, that's not my work, or, like, that's not the same, or it's not reproductive justice work, but it is.

[Al Letson]

Reproductive justice includes the right to. To make choices to have or not have children, and if you do have them, to raise those children in safe and supportive environments. Family justice is about giving people the support they need to do that. For Janese and margins, that meant giving rides, buying groceries, paying rent and utility bills. And Janese was running all this programming, still raising money on Facebook, book holding down various jobs, and taking care of her kids. It was a lot.

[Steve Marshall]

I was. Oh, my. I was organizing so frantically as it was so unhealthy, I ended up in hospital twice from, like, really bad stress and anxiety. You know, you. You ever, like, everything's fine, everything's fine, and then you're like, you have iv and you're like, I went too far.

[Al Letson]

Then at some point in 2020, she was offered a job as Yellowhammer's first ever family justice coordinator.

[Steve Marshall]

Yellowhammer Fund eventually was like, hey, we see you doing all that work. Do you want to get paid for it? And I was like, no way. Because I was like, working at a pizza place. It was like 12 bucks. I was like, no way.

[Al Letson]

They wanted her to scale what she'd been doing at Margins. But now for all of yellowhammer's clients. Well, when you started doing family justice with Yellowhammer, did it feel really, like, different from what other abortion funds were doing, as far as you could tell?

[Steve Marshall]

Oh, absolutely. And even with well meaning people, I think trying to meet more needs than just an abortion, because that could be rough too. I think it's an inconvenience for folks. And I think people would rather just kind of like, do what feels like they can just keep, you know, churning them out. Like, people got to abortion next, next, next.

[Al Letson]

But at Yellowhammer, they begin offering wraparound services. The kind of extra support Janiece knew from experience that people needed.

[Steve Marshall]

I know we had one person seeking abortion that was like sleeping in their car, but they were, like, so content because they got their care. They're like, oh, back to my car. And we were like, wait, what do you want a room? And they're like, oh, well, I was gonna be fine because at least I got my abortion for a while.

[Al Letson]

They're doing it all, helping people get abortions, figuring out what other support they need, and then giving it to them. That is until June 2022. Roe is overturned and Steve Marshall is threatening to prosecute them. Suddenly, Yellowhammer's abortion work has to stop. The organization has to reinvent itself. They need a new leader to steer them through the vast changes ahead. And yellowhammer's board asks Janice.

[Steve Marshall]

Hearing the board say, like, well, you're best suited to help us survive a pivot of this nature. I was like, oh, yeah, no, no, absolutely not. I don't want to do that. Sounds terrible. And they're like, janice, come on. I was like, well, I complain about this literally all day, every day. Maybe I should. So I got a therapist. And then I said yes.

[Al Letson]

Now Janyce's family justice work isn't just a piece of what Yellowhammer does. It's at the center of everything they do.

[Nina Martin]

Up next, as Yellowhammer ramps up its family justice work, Janice's staff hits the road.

[Janiece Fountain]

We have safer sex kits, and then we've got birth control. We've got formula, as well as diapers. We've also got teddy bears for kids. If you know any kids who would like a teddy.

[Nina Martin]

What yellowhammer's transformation looks like. Plus a ruling in the lawsuit that changes the their work all over again. You're listening to reveal.

[Al Letson]

Lamont Jones world shatters when his young cousin dies in custody just weeks after entering prison. The official report says natural causes, but bruises and missing teeth tell a different story. Grief turns to frustration as Lamont faces an impossible choice. Accept the lies or risk everything to uncover the truth. From Wondery comes Death County, Pa. A chilling story of corruption, cover ups and one man's relentless pursuit of justice. Follow Death County, Pa. On the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Are you interested in books on American history and spycraft? What about moral questions about how the intelligence agencies toe the line between science, secrecy and civil liberties? Every nation has an intelligence apparatus, some means by which its top officials acquire needed information on sensitive issues. But each nation does it differently, influenced by its history, geographical conditions and political traditions. And Vigilance is not a history of United States intelligence. Mark M. Lowenthal examines the development of US Intelligence to explain how and why the United States went from having no intelligence service to speak of to being the world's predominant intelligence power almost overnight. This book offers an analysis of how American intelligence emerged and what it has meant for world politics. Learn [e-mail].

[Nina Martin]

From the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, this is Reveal. I'm Al Letson. On a cold morning this past January, Reveals Nina Martin went on a little road trip through rural west Alabama. Hello.

[Steve Marshall]

Hello.

[Al Letson]

So nice to meet you in person.

[Nina Martin]

In the car is Yellowhammer Abortion Fund's deputy director Kelsey McLean.

[Janiece Fountain]

We're covering quite a bit of mileage.

[Nina Martin]

Today and Shaquilla Sumlet, Yellowhammer's family justice.

[Al Letson]

Organizer Shaquilleah is in the front seat signing a lot of like postcards or flyers or.

[Steve Marshall]

Yes, these are the flyers we stick in the doors and let them know that we will be in their neighborhood and win.

[Al Letson]

Oh cool.

[Janiece Fountain]

Okay.

[Nina Martin]

The flyers have a drawing of a bus with a turquoise roof and shocking pink rims. Big bright flowers are spray painted along the sides. And it's the Repro Raven, Yellowhammer's roving headquarters. It's kind of an embassy for the family justice work that has become the center of the organization's mission.

[Steve Marshall]

We definitely like to build personal relationships with the communities that we serve so we do go out and meet them pre bus tour trip stop so we can make sure we're addressing what they need.

[Nina Martin]

The week Nina visits, Yellowhammer is launching its first bus tour of 2025. The Repro Raven will return loaded with free supplies and information for getting even more free supplies for anyone that needs them.

[Steve Marshall]

And we do a whole safe sex kit, which includes some condoms, some pregnancy sex, and some lube and ec.

[Nina Martin]

EC is emergency contraception, the morning after pill. They also give out baby diapers, sizes one through six.

[Steve Marshall]

We also have adult diapers on there. A lot of the communities we go to, there are elderly people living there as well, and food. Everywhere we go, no matter where we pop up at, we bring food to this.

[Nina Martin]

Canvassing, the bus. They're all part of Yellowhammer's transformation over the last few years as the organization fights the state's attorney general in court. They're suing to protect the right to help people get out of state abortions, but in the meantime, their other work can't stop. Nina tagged along as Yellowhammer set out to visit almost 50 communities in 50 days to let them know help is still available.

[Al Letson]

Kelsey McLean has been at Yellowhammer since 2019, when they could still offer abortion support. She made most of the travel and financial arrangements for Yellowhammer's clients.

[Janiece Fountain]

We're headed to, oh, I got completely went the wrong way to a few different public housing communities that are near Tuscaloosa or, like, in that general region of the state.

[Al Letson]

Now she's in charge of mapping out this whole outreach tour. First she had to identify all the public housing in Alabama, which, to be.

[Janiece Fountain]

Very clear, that was the hardest part of this whole thing. Like, there's no database. You can just go to and, like, put in your zip code and it tells you every possible, you know, section 8 or public housing community option available to you.

[Al Letson]

Kelsey estimates the tour will cover up to half of all the public housing communities in Alabama. Could you talk about the need to do the kind of canvassing in person that you're doing?

[Janiece Fountain]

Yeah, we, we know there's areas of Alabama that straight up just don't have broadband access, period. You have to know we exist to know, to reach out to us. Right. And, yeah, we just want to make sure, no matter how you find information out, that you know how to find out about this.

[Al Letson]

Shaquilla Sumlin came to Yellowhammer through its executive director, Janiece Fountain. She's one of the original group of friends who inspired Janiece to start her nonprofit margins.

[Steve Marshall]

It was about eight years ago, and we were working at Whole Foods in Birmingham. We were both very dirt poor, and so a lot of the things we needed, we weren't getting. And we pass around $20 back and forth for three and four weeks. You get the 20 this week. I'll get the 20 next week. And we kind of built it up from there. So that's how we got started in the community.

[Al Letson]

Shaquilla is a city girl, and this part of west Alabama is pretty new to her. She says it's even harder to be poor in these rural areas than in a place like Birmingham. What are the things that people don't have? Like what kinds of help are they not getting from the government or even other organizations?

[Steve Marshall]

Wow. I think the better question is, what are they getting? It's hard to get food, it's hard to get childcare for you to even be able to go out and try to get your own resources. It's just a lot that they're not getting.

[Al Letson]

We drive past big stretches of farmland, lots of trees and churches. No grocery stores or pharmacies, no buses, nothing that looks like a doctor's office or a clinic.

[Janiece Fountain]

So we're going to Phil Campbell, which I keep calling Phil Collins in my head. It's a town. Phil Campbell.

[Al Letson]

After 90 minutes, we reach our first stop, Phil Campbell, a little town named after an 1880s railroad manager.

[Janiece Fountain]

Should I go ahead and park? Should we go ahead and get out and do this thing?

[Al Letson]

The public housing in ville Campbell is a collection of identical one story brick apartments scattered across a dried grass lawn.

[Steve Marshall]

So this does look like a older housing community too. From the people that I have noticed, it looks like there might not be a lot of kids out here.

[Al Letson]

Shaquille heads toward one of the few houses with toys on the front porch.

[Steve Marshall]

Perfect.

[Al Letson]

Someone opens the door, catching her by surprise.

[Steve Marshall]

I'm just going to leave a flyer in your door. I'm with a Yellow Hammer friend and we're going to be in your community on 123 with all these free things right here.

[Al Letson]

Gotcha.

[Steve Marshall]

All right. If you know anybody else, let them know too.

[Al Letson]

It only takes a few minutes to hit all the houses and then we're on our way to the next towns. By the end of the day, Yellow Hammer has left flyers and dozens of screen doors. A couple of days later, it's time to return and hand out the supplies promised on the flyers. The party bus. The first stop is a public housing community outside of Tuscaloosa called Crescent East. The Repro Raven used to be a food truck that sold shaved ice. Now inside, it resembles the back room of a small supermarket. Kelsey and the Yellowhammer crew have already set up in front of a police substation near another official looking building. Both are locked and empty. In front of the bus, they've laid out the free food, coffee, hot chocolate and donuts.

[Steve Marshall]

Y' all like selling donuts? No.

[Al Letson]

You good? They're for free. At first it's pretty slow, but soon people are coming in by twos and threes. Some teenage boys take safer sex kits and a few girls grab birth control pills. Diapers are the most popular item.

[Janiece Fountain]

Tampons and pads. We've got formula as well as one through six size diapers. We have safer sex kits that have like a little of everything folks would need. And then we've got birth control for folks. It's like over the counter birth control you can take daily. We've also got teddy bears for kids. If you know any kids who would like a teddy.

[Steve Marshall]

I want Pampers pants and the bir.

[Janiece Fountain]

Okay.

[Al Letson]

About 40 minutes in, supplies are running low. It's time to start thinking about packing up.

[Steve Marshall]

If not, I'll take up 5 in diapers for my little cousin.

[Al Letson]

Then a white van from the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority pulls up around the corner. A guy gets out and has a quick conversation with the Ravens driver, Jake Sanford, and takes down his phone number. The housing authority guy came. What is that? Is that just like a normal thing?

[Janiece Fountain]

Oh, I don't know.

[Al Letson]

Yeah, right there. I don't know. They're calling to yell. About what?

[Steve Marshall]

I'm not exactly sure.

[Al Letson]

I guess the fact that they didn't know we were coming and they're about to call me and tell me to leave there. I guess they're upset that we're here doing this. But Yellowhammer didn't talk to anyone at the housing authority before their visit. In a lot of ways, their policy is ask forgiveness, not permission. Hi, I just missed the call. This is Jake.

[Steve Marshall]

Hello. How are you?

[Nina Martin]

I'm good.

[Steve Marshall]

How are you?

[Al Letson]

It's someone with the Housing authority of Tuscaloosa.

[Steve Marshall]

We're trying to see what's going on out there in Crescent East. We're just out here.

[Al Letson]

We've got a bus and we're just giving out some diapers and some coffee fee and some donuts for free.

[Steve Marshall]

Okay. And we don't have a problem with that. But we definitely need to know what's going on on our properties before it actually take place. Okay?

[Al Letson]

Jake apologizes. She says it's no problem. She appreciates what they're doing. Jake says they'll call before they come next time. And everyone starts getting ready to leave. But soon after the call, a big black car slowly rolls past. There goes the police again, going by, just up and down. But they don't stop. And the Repro Raven starts pulling away. Ready for the next town? We are going to Aliceville, Alabama. It's about an hour from here. We got somebody. What's up, brother? It's a preacher from a local church waving Jake down, hoping for some diapers for his grandkids. What size he need?

[Steve Marshall]

4 and 7.

[Al Letson]

I've just got the fours. Is that okay? Jake leans out of the bus and passes a box through the preacher's car window.

[Steve Marshall]

You all are a blessing.

[Nina Martin]

Keep doing what you're doing if all possible, and because it really helps the families and God bless you all.

[Al Letson]

Yellowhammer's Reaper Raven tour goes on for eight weeks. Kelsey says hardly anyone they meet asks about abortion, and the Yellowhammer folks don't bring it up. Pretty much everywhere they go, they get the same reception from residents. Curiosity, followed by gratitude. But the authorities are a different story. Kelsey says a few times during the tour, local law enforcement showed up where the Reaper Raven was parked. One of those incidents happened in Bill Campbell, the little town where Kelsey and Shaquilla canvassed at the start of the tour. Here's Kelsey a few days later, describing what happened.

[Janiece Fountain]

We pulled up pretty immediately. People started coming up to the bus. We had music going like we usually do. About 45 minutes in, two guys in a Housing authority work truck came rolling by and said, y' all gotta go.

[Al Letson]

So Kelsey heads over to the main office to talk to the person, and.

[Janiece Fountain]

She kind of cut me off and said, well, we got complaints. It's a disturbance. And I was like, oh, is it the music? Because we'll just turn the music off. Like that's. We just do it so people can find us. And she said, well, we don't allow soliciting. And I said, well, ma' am, we're not soliciting anyone. We're sitting here with a free resource, and they are soliciting us for the resource. And she said, if you don't leave now, I will call the police.

[Al Letson]

The Phil Campbell Housing Authority declined to comment for this story. The Yellow Hammer crew drives to the nearest supermarket. The store manager lets them set up in the parking lot. But pretty soon, a police officer shows up asking if they have permission to be there. He tells them the housing authority called.

[Janiece Fountain]

And the cop pulled off at that point. And then I see him drive by again about 10 minutes later, real slow, eyeballing us the whole time. And so I go, y' all, we gotta get out of here. Like, this doesn't feel safe anymore. This feels like we're being surveilled.

[Al Letson]

Kelsey says the police car follows the Repro Raven to the edge of town. Because of incidents like this, the Raven stops canvassing in advance. They start just showing up, hoping people find them.

[Janiece Fountain]

It was such a good picture of what we're fighting against. Like, we do this work because the government won't do it. And literally, to see people panicking so aggressively about a group doing free resource distribution, and it has me thinking through a little bit more about how we really stay safe, because what's going to happen is we will not be back to Phil Campbell.

[Al Letson]

As the tour is winding down, the Yellowhammer staff is still waiting for a resolution to their biggest clash with authorities, their lawsuit against Attorney General Steve Marshall. It will determine whether or not they can return to their other mission, helping people get abortions. At the end of March, Yellowhammer executive director Janice Fountain gets an email from their attorney. The ruling is in.

[Steve Marshall]

I was like, y' all, she sent this. She sent the order. You gotta get on zoom right now. Get on your zoom. I was, like, reading it as I was summoning everyone. I was like, wait, sounds like we won. We. We won. This is a win. Wait. I was like, where's the gotcha? There's no gotcha. We actually won. Wow.

[Al Letson]

In the ruling, the judge dissects Steve Marshall's interview on that talk radio show when he singled out groups out of Tuscaloosa. Using Marshall's logic, the judge says prosecutors could go after Alabama residents who organize bachelor parties in Las Vegas. The ruling says, the right to travel to expressive conduct to help is all protected by the Constitution. It's a clear victory for Yellowhammer, the West Alabama Women's center, and the other organizations in the case.

[Janiece Fountain]

I remember initially when we got the news, I almost didn't believe it. Like, I was like, what?

[Al Letson]

Like, no.

[Steve Marshall]

Like, we.

[Al Letson]

We won one.

[Janiece Fountain]

Like, this is wild.

[Al Letson]

Earlier that day, Kelsey had gotten an email about an abortion patient who urgently needed funding. Without a ruling in their favor, Yellowhammer couldn't risk it.

[Janiece Fountain]

I needed the lawyer on the call to tell us everything was good. I really did. But, you know, Jamil was just like, yo, no, you can do it. You can fund abortions. And I was like, no, wait, We've got someone, literally, that needs funding right now, and can we do it? And when she said, yes, that was when it, like, hit me.

[Steve Marshall]

Like, hit me, hit me.

[Janiece Fountain]

I think it wasn't gonna be real until I had sent my first email saying, like, yes, we can fund that abortion. And then that was real.

[Al Letson]

After the ruling, Marshall lays low. His office tells news outlets that he's weighing his options, but they don't file an appeal. In the first month after the ruling, Yellowhammer was able to help 47 patients, paying out $20,000 for abortion care without fear of jail time. But Yellowhammer's victory doesn't mean the right to travel for an abortion is safe around the country. What started in Alabama was already spreading. Idaho and Tennessee have passed laws making it illegal to help minors cross state lines for an abortion, though Tennessee's law has been blocked. Texas lawmakers are trying to do the same thing. And the right to access abortion across state lines is under attack in other ways. Legal battles are erupting over telehealth abortion care from blue states. Anti abortion groups are fighting on multiple fronts to criminalize sending abortion pills through the mail. What is happening on abortion rights is like a slow rolling tidal wave. No one knows how big it will be or when it will hit. So even with the lawsuit victory, it's clear the fights aren't over in Alabama or really anywhere around the country. And what Yellowhammer has has been through has lessons for other abortion rights groups in other states.

[Janiece Fountain]

I think the biggest learning experience is just that we've got to as an abortion rights movement stop being just about abortion rights and it going no deeper than that. And I think that is why we ended up with the Dobbs decision, why we ended up with it being acceptable to legislate and restrict abortion into oblivion.

[Al Letson]

But for now, Yellowhammer is getting back to business, including reactivating their abortion fund hotline.

[Janiece Fountain]

Yeah, I'm still getting it worked out. Our call system is wild, but for sure when they call they will hear a message saying thank you for calling the Yellowhammer Fund.

[Robyn Marty]

Please listen carefully to the following options.

[Al Letson]

As our menu has recently changed. The new voicemail makes clear Yellowhammer isn't cutting any of their services, just adding back abortion press 1 for abortion funding or assistance with abortion funding. And they've also added a new tagline, one that sums up their entire philosophy of help. Thank you for calling. And remember, no one should need.

[Nina Martin]

You can read more of Nina Martin's reproductive rights [e-mail] and motherjones.com Our lead producer for this week's show is Anianti Diaz Cortez. She had help from Steven Rascone and Michael Schiller. Jenny Casas edited the show. Editorial guidance from Maryann Segady Mazak. Sarah Solaji and Ruth Marai are our fact checkers. Legal Review by Victoria Baranetsky Our production manager is the great Zulema Cobb. Score and sound design by the dynamic duo Jay Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs and Fernando My Man Yo Arruda. That help from Claire C. Notemullen. Our executive producer for this week's show is Kate Howard. Our theme music is by Camarado Lightning. Support for reveals provided by the Riva and David Logan foundation, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, the park foundation, the Schmidt Family foundation and the Hellman Foundation. Support for reveal is also provided by you our listeners. We are a co production of the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. I'm Al Edson and remember, there's always more to the story.

[Al Letson]

From prx.