(The Guardian) In Alabama, the state’s top prosecutor has reacted to the Biden administration’s expansion of access to abortion pills by warning that women who take the medication could be prosecuted under a law meant to protect children from methamphetamine fumes.
“Promoting the remote prescription and administration of abortion pills endangers both women and unborn children,” Republican attorney general Steve Marshall said in a statement to Al.com. “Elective abortion – including abortion pills – is illegal in Alabama. Nothing about the Justice Department’s guidance changes that. Anyone who remotely prescribes abortion pills in Alabama does so at their own peril: I will vigorously enforce Alabama law to protect unborn life.”
Alabama’s governor in 2019 signed the Human Life Protection Act, which bans abortion except to protect the life of the mother. It only went into effect last year, when the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade. But the law allows for abortion providers to be punished, not recipients, which is why Marshall is threatening to use the state’s chemical endangerment law against women who end their pregnancies medically.
“The Human Life Protection Act targets abortion providers, exempting women ‘upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed’ from liability under the law,” said Marshall, who has also threatened to prosecute veterans affair doctors who perform abortions in cases of incest or rape. “It 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.”
“Promoting the remote prescription and administration of abortion pills endangers both women and unborn children,” Republican attorney general Steve Marshall said in a statement to Al.com. “Elective abortion – including abortion pills – is illegal in Alabama. Nothing about the Justice Department’s guidance changes that. Anyone who remotely prescribes abortion pills in Alabama does so at their own peril: I will vigorously enforce Alabama law to protect unborn life.”
Alabama’s governor in 2019 signed the Human Life Protection Act, which bans abortion except to protect the life of the mother. It only went into effect last year, when the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade. But the law allows for abortion providers to be punished, not recipients, which is why Marshall is threatening to use the state’s chemical endangerment law against women who end their pregnancies medically.
“The Human Life Protection Act targets abortion providers, exempting women ‘upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed’ from liability under the law,” said Marshall, who has also threatened to prosecute veterans affair doctors who perform abortions in cases of incest or rape. “It 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.”
