Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall joined a group of 22 attorneys general in a letter to the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to condemn its recent decision to abandon restrictions on certain pills used in abortions.
Earlier this month, the FDA altered regulations about two abortion medications: Mifepristone and Misoprostol.
The change will allow brick-and-mortar pharmacies to ship the drugs through the mail. The U.S. Department of Justice’s opinion suggested that the pills could be delivered to states where abortion is illegal.
“The authority to regulate abortion lies with the people and their elected representatives,” the letter reads. “In our states, we prioritize the health and safety of women and children, and our laws reflect this. And in many states, including Alabama, elective abortion is illegal… Our States will not yield to the Administration’s radical pro-abortion policies.”
Alabama’s near-total ban on abortion under the Human Life Protection Act of 2019 went into effect in June after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to make abortion illegal.
The Human Life Protection Act lists punishments for those who perform or assist in abortions, but mothers can’t be held criminally or civilly liable for having an abortion. However, Marshall said that they would not necessarily be exempt from other laws, such as the chemical-endangerment law, which the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in 2014 protects unborn children.
Pro-life groups have raised concerns that legal loopholes could open the door for alternative forms of abortion in the state.
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