Alabama's attorney general threatened to prosecute people seeking abortion pills. A day later, he walked it back.

• Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he'd prosecute people who take abortion pills.
• A day later, Marshall walked back his remarks and said only abortion providers would be prosecuted.

In a stern statement released Tuesday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he would prosecute people who seek out and take abortion pills, despite a green light from the federal government for retail pharmacies to distribute them to the public.

The declaration shocked reproductive justice advocates. Then just a day later, Marshall walked back his remarks, saying he only intended to target providers, not patients.

Prosecuting people for taking abortion pills would not have been legal in the state of Alabama, civil-rights experts told Insider.

"The strategy is to intimidate women and create a culture of fear, such that women are afraid to even try to seek abortion medication," said Emma Roth, staff attorney at Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that advocates for reproductive rights.

Marshall originally said he would rely on the chemical-endangerment law — originally passed in 2006 with the intention of protecting children from meth fumes — to seek and enforce prosecution against people who take abortion pills in the state, according to a statement given to AL.com.

His original statement followed a regulatory change from the Food and Drug Administration that went into effect last week. The FDA authorized brick-and-mortar pharmacies across the country to pursue certification to carry abortion pills, a move that could expand abortion access nationwide. Several large pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS have already said they'd be pursuing certification in states where abortion is legal.

After the FDA's regulatory change, the US Department of Justice said Postal Service workers could deliver the pills to states with abortion bans. Alabama is one of the most restrictive states on abortion rights, according to data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that studies reproductive rights.

Marshall, however, said he wouldn't allow that.

"Elective abortion—including abortion pills—is illegal in Alabama," Marshall said in his statement. "Nothing about the Justice Department's guidance changes that."

Alabama has a law that shields people who get abortions from criminalization. The Human Life Protection Act, signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey in 2019, specifically says abortion providers can be held criminally liable, but people who get abortions cannot be.

The Act, Marshall said, "does not provide an across-the-board exemption from all criminal laws," like the chemical-endangerment law.

On Wednesday, Marshall suddenly walked back his original statement, saying only abortion providers would be held criminally liable.

"Again, not targeting the woman herself, but in fact, targeting those providers to induce the abortion," Marshall said, according to NBC affiliate WSFA. "There is a very specific provision in the law the legislator passed just a few years ago that specifically exempts the woman from criminal prosecution. It does target those who are providers."

Marshall is "really hungry for headlines"

Roth said Marshall cannot prosecute people in Alabama for taking abortion pills.

"This is a blatantly illegal interpretation of the law. Any effort to prosecute women who had received abortion medication under the Chemical Endangerment Act would be unprecedented and would be vigorously opposed and found unlawful," Roth said in an interview with Insider. "And that is because the legislature has already made its intent clear that it has chosen not to criminalize women for receiving abortion medication or seeking abortions."

The chemical-endangerment law was passed in response to a rise in methamphetamine use and overdose in the state, but has since been used by prosecutors against pregnant women they allege have used drugs during pregnancy, according to Roth.

The Alabama Supreme Court has said a fetus can be considered a child under that law, leading to a rise in the number of chemical endangerment prosecutions brought against pregnant people.

"That said, the decision had nothing to do with abortion or seeking abortion medication," Roth said.

But even the threat of punishment is enough to make life difficult for abortion seekers.

"Somebody living in a state like Alabama who experiences an unwanted pregnancy is in an incredibly vulnerable position," Roth added. "By creating this atmosphere of fear, he's trying to chill women from exercising their rights and scare them into thinking they could go to jail."

Stephen Stetson, the Alabama director of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said Marshall is trying to repurpose an old law in a "misapplied" way because he is "really hungry for headlines."

Marshall's office did not return Insider's call asking for comment on his statement.

A July poll released by the Pew Research Center found that most Americans living in states with abortion bans disapproved of the Supreme Court's June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

"So this is kind of an end run around public opinion to reach into the toolbox and see if you can use a screwdriver as a hammer," Stetson said. "I mean, it's an experiment. And if it doesn't work, they'll try something else. But for now, it's sufficient to get some public attention."

Reproductive justice organizations like Pregnancy Justice and Planned Parenthood Southeast are gearing up to ward off similar attempts at stoking fear among the public.

"Even though Marshall is the first AG to make this sort of announcement, he's not going to be the last," said Olivia Cappello, manager of state communications campaigns at Planned Parenthood.