Alabama Attorney General Said He’ll Prosecute People Who Use Abortion Pills
It's the first time Steve Marshall has targeted pregnant people, rather than providers, AL.com said.
AbortionPolitics

The Department of Justice said last week that the Postal Service is cleared to keep delivering abortion pills across the U.S., even to states that have banned abortion. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R), a rabid opponent of bodily autonomy, is unsurprisingly unhappy about the news, and on Tuesday told AL.com that women and pregnant people who use abortion pills in the state could be prosecuted. An advocacy organization for pregnant people pledged to challenge any prosecutions.
Marshall said people who use abortion medications wouldn’t be charged under the state’s abortion ban, which exempts pregnant women, but instead via an older law that AL.com said was “initially designed to protect children from meth lab fumes.” The outlet also noted that while Marshall has threatened abortion providers and people who help others obtain an abortion, “this is the first time he has said police and prosecutors could arrest women who have undergone medication abortion.”
Marshall had not independently announced his plan; it appears that AL.com may have been seeking clarification about a comment Marshall’s spokesperson made to local outlet 1819 News last week about abortion pills and the chemical endangerment law.
Marshall said in an emailed statement to AL.com that the abortion ban “does not provide an across-the-board exemption from all criminal laws, including the chemical-endangerment law—which the Alabama Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed protects unborn children.” He added: “Elective abortion—including abortion pills—is illegal in Alabama. Nothing about the Justice Department’s guidance changes that…I will vigorously enforce Alabama law to protect unborn life.”