Alabama Attorney General Says People Will Be Prosecuted Over Abortion Pills

Updated February 15, 2023

• Twenty-two Republican-led states have voiced their approval for a nationwide injunction on the use of medical abortion pills like mifepristone.
• The state attorneys filed a brief on Monday, asking the U.S. District Court in Amarillo to block the Food and Drug Administration's 2000 approval of mifepristone.
•  Twenty-two Democratic attorneys generals opposed the injunction, arguing that it "would be nothing short of catastrophic."
•  The Republican brief says that the FDA

"[H]as acted to establish a nationwide regime of on-demand abortion ... in defiance of federal and state laws protecting life, health, and safety."

Updated February 10, 2023

• Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has extended the deadline in the lawsuit seeking to ban the abortion pill, mifepristone, from the U.S. to Feb. 24.
• The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a coalition of physicians who oppose abortion, originally sued the FDA in November over its approval of mifepristone, which has been legal for over two decades.
• The abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America said 40 million women would lose access to the abortion pill if the Alliance succeeds in getting it banned. 
• Judge Kacsmaryk ordered Danco Laboratories, one of the companies that make the pills, to lay out its opposition to the attempted ban.
• The anti-abortion physicians who originally filed the lawsuit will then have until Feb. 24 to reply.
• The FDA called the lawsuit "extraordinary and unprecedented."

Updated January 12, 2023

• Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said women in Alabama who use abortion pills could be prosecuted under a state law created to protect children from chemicals. 
• While Alabama's Human Life Protection Act criminalizes abortion providers, it prevents the use of the law against people receiving abortions. The attorney general's office said the state would instead prosecute women under the Chemical Endangerment of a Child law.
• Marshall said in a statement: 

"The Human Life Protection Act targets abortion providers, exempting women...from liability under the law. It does not provide an across-the-board exemption from all criminal laws, including chemical-endangerment law..."

• Marshall also said people who set up out-of-state abortions could face criminal penalties. He continued: 

"Anyone who remotely prescribes abortion pills in Alabama does so at their own peril: I will vigorously enforce Alabama law to protect unborn life."

What’s the story? 

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made abortion pills available in pharmacies and mail-orders companies, significantly expanding access to abortions in the U.S. 
• Any pharmacy that completes the certification process can now provide the pills, from corner drugstores to large chains. However, patients are still required to receive a prescription for the medications from a certified healthcare provider.
• Previously, mifepristone, the first pill used in abortion medication, was available only from a few mail-order pharmacies or specially certified doctors and clinics. The second pill, misoprostol, has never been as strictly regulated as mifepristone. 
• The FDA also removed the in-person requirement for obtaining mifepristone, allowing medical professionals to consult patients needing the medications by video, phone, or online questionnaires. 

The importance of abortion pills

• Abortion pills are used in more than half of pregnancy terminations in America, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The drugs are in especially high demand after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year. 
• Rigid bans in Conservative states could impact a pharmacy’s ability to dispense the medication. These varying restrictions would make it illegal or very difficult for pharmacies to provide the pills in about half of the states.

What they’re saying

• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said this is a significant step forward. The group stated: 

“Although the FDA’s announcement today will not solve access issues for every person seeking abortion care, it will allow more patients who need mifepristone for medication abortion additional options to secure this vital drug.”

• President of Susan B. Anthony Pro-life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, criticized the FDA: 

“The Biden administration has once again provided that it values abortion industry profits over women’s safety and unborn children’s lives. Abortion activists want to turn every post office and pharmacy into an abortion office, and the Biden FDA is a willing participant.”

• Kirsten Moore, the director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access project, said: 

“By allowing brick-and-mortar pharmacies to dispense medication abortion care, the FDA is treating medication abortion like the safe, effective, time-sensitive care that it is.”

What’s next?

• It’s not yet clear whether large pharmacy chains and local drugstores will choose to make the pills available.
• It won’t be difficult for pharmacies to become certified to dispense the drugs but is necessary to ensure that pharmacies can provide emergency care in the case of excessive bleeding. 

How do you feel about this increase in abortion access in America?

-Jamie Epstein & Emma Kansiz

(Photo credit: iStock/gorodenkoff)