Alabama’s Threats to Prosecute Abortion Helpers
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8.7K Ratings
🗓️ 29 November 2025
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In August 2022, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall made a guest appearance on a local conservative talk radio show. It was two months after the US Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade, and abortion was now illegal in Alabama. And Marshall addressed rumors that he planned to prosecute anyone helping people get abortions out of state.
“If someone was promoting themselves out as a funder of abortion out of state,” Marshall explained to the host, “then that is potentially criminally actionable for us.”
This particular threat launched an epic legal battle with implications for some of the most basic American rights: the right to travel, the right to free speech, the right to give and receive help.
This week on Reveal, reporter Nina Martin spends time with abortion rights groups in Alabama, following how they’ve adapted to one of the nation’s strictest anti-abortion policies—and evolved their definition of help.
This is an update of an episode that originally aired in May 2025.
- Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/weekly
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Al, and 20205 has been a brutal year for public media. I got to tell you, it is not |
| 0:09.2 | easy to produce fearless journalism at a time when truth itself is under siege. The one thing it |
| 0:16.8 | takes is community. That's you, your support, your time, your willingness to listen, share, and engage. That's what keeps our reporting alive and thriving. Every time you tune into our work, you're part of the community that says, yes, facts matter. Yes, power should be challenged. And yes, independent voices are essential. |
| 0:41.4 | Right now, we need that community to step up for us and donate. We've got a big year-end |
| 0:48.1 | fundraising goal, and we need you on board if we're going to get there. This show, well, it just |
| 0:53.9 | cannot exist without listeners who care enough to help us pay the |
| 0:58.1 | bills. |
| 0:58.8 | Listeners like you. |
| 1:00.7 | So I'm asking you, can you help? |
| 1:03.4 | Any amount works for us. |
| 1:05.6 | Just text give to 88857 reveal. |
| 1:09.5 | That's give to 888-573832, and we'll send a donate link. |
| 1:17.2 | Or visit revealnews.org slash 2026. |
| 1:21.1 | Thank you. |
| 1:26.6 | From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal. |
| 1:33.8 | I'm Al Letson. |
| 1:35.9 | Robin Marty was on national television when Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. |
| 1:42.1 | It was Friday, and I was asked to do a live segment with CNN Headline News. |
| 1:50.0 | You want to bring in Robin Marty. She's Director of Operations of West Alabama's Women's Center. |
| 1:55.0 | Robin, good morning. So you are in Alabama. If this happens, if Roe versus Wade is overturned, how does that impact your facility |
| 2:02.6 | there today? |
| 2:04.6 | At the time, Robin was running an abortion clinic in Tuscaloosa, the West Alabama Women's |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.