Antiabortion activists drop lawsuit against Abortion Liberation Fund

Two Philadelphia residents have dropped a lawsuit they filed against the city and Mayor Jim Kenney in August that claimed a six-figure donation to the Abortion Liberation Fund of PA (ALF-PA) violated state law.

Plaintiffs Charles and Theresa Kuhar dropped their lawsuit Wednesday, after months of unsuccessful appeals to rulings in favor of ALF-PA, which helps patients pay for an abortion if they cannot use insurance to cover the procedure or can’t otherwise afford it.

Elicia Gonzalez, executive director of ALF-PA, emphasized in a statement the difficulty in obtaining access to safe abortions, even before the U.S. Supreme Court last year eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion — particularly for young people, people of color, and those living in poverty.

“At the start of Black History Month (and always) we must name that all abortion restrictions are white supremacy in action and disproportionately harm Black people who can get pregnant,” she told The Inquirer. “Let this decision be a reminder that these lawsuits are harmful, violent, and unnecessary wastes of time, energy, and resources. This ruling is a victory — not just for ALF-PA staff — but for abortion seekers in Philadelphia and across the nation who continue navigating access to abortion care in our post-Roe reality.”

In August, the City of Philadelphia announced plans to donate $500,000 to ALF-PA, which would come out of the city’s taxpayer-funded general fund. The announcement came on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s eliminating a constitutional right to abortion, though Kenney emphasized at the time that access to the procedure was cost-prohibitive and restrictive even before the ruling.

“[T]hey attempted a distorted reading of the law to further their antagonism.”

“In Philadelphia [abortion] is legal, but sadly that does not mean it is accessible for everyone,” Kenney said at the time. “Providing financial support for people seeking abortions is one of the ways we will support Philadelphians in their fundamental right to bodily autonomy.”

Just two weeks after the announcement, the Kuhars — who are Philadelphia residents — filed their lawsuit, backed by a conservative law firm.

Pennsylvania law prohibits the use of state funds for abortion care, with exceptions for rape, incestor in cases where pregnancy could lead to death. The city, however, does not have a municipal ordinance banning such uses of taxpayer dollars.

The Kuhars argued that by using cash from its general fund, Philadelphia wouldn’t be able to prove it didn’t use state or state-appropriated federal funds to make the donation.

“It is completely legal for municipal governments to donate to an organization like Abortion Liberation Fund,” Stephen Loney, senior supervising attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania who argued on behalf of ALF, said in a news release. “The only reason we were in court at all is because the plaintiffs oppose ALF’s mission, and they attempted a distorted reading of the law to further their antagonism.”

The Kuhars dropped their lawsuit about a month after the ACLU and the law firm Ballard Spahr LLP, representing ALF-PA, filed a motion for sanctions against the plaintiffs’ attorneys.