Pro-Life States are Fighting Back Against Illegal Abortion Pills

As shipments of the abortion drug mifepristone continue to cross state lines in violation of pro-life state laws and the federal Comstock Act, Republican state attorneys general and state lawmakers are fighting back by demanding federal legislation to combat pro-abortion shield laws and introducing state legislation to hold out-of-state abortionists liable for breaking state pro-life laws.

According to the latest available data, the abortion pill now accounts for up to 63% of all abortions currently carried out in the U.S. During the Biden administration, safeguards surrounding the prescribing of the pill were stripped away, despite the increased dangers of dispensing the drug without an in-person appointment and the fact that up to 11% of women who take mifepristone experience serious adverse health complications, including cramping, bleeding (for up to 30 days), hemorrhage requiring transfusions, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and headache.

On Tuesday, a group of 16 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to House and Senate leadership demanding that federal legislation be enacted to stop pro-abortion shield laws, which as the AGs explained, “‘shield’ abortion providers from liability and prosecution for performing or aiding in abortions in other States.” Currently, 18 states plus the District of Columbia have enacted shield laws. As noted by Family Research Council’s Mary Szoch, these shield laws “explicitly state that they will harbor doctors, nurse practitioners, and midwives licensed in their state who prescribe and send mifepristone to patients in pro-life states. States with these shield laws refuse to cooperate with investigations of or legal actions against abortionists who violate pro-life state laws in other states.”

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In addition, state lawmakers like Louisiana state Representative Julie Emerson (R) are also taking action to combat pro-abortion shield laws. On Thursday, she joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to discuss the situation.

“Louisiana has always been a very strong pro-life state,” she explained. “… But unfortunately, over the last couple of years … we have so many out-of-state providers who have found these loopholes in our law to be able to mail these abortion drugs into Louisiana. And unfortunately, there was a case recently from a doctor in New York who actually had a telehealth call with the mother of a patient — not even the patient herself — and ended up shipping those abortion drugs into Louisiana. … We did try to hold her accountable, but Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, said absolutely she will not send her to Louisiana to face charges.”

As Emerson went on to detail, that could change in light of newly enacted legislation that she helped to author.

“[T]his year, I worked with another representative … and [we] co-authored this bill to make sure that we sent a clear message to out-of-state doctors: do not send abortion pills here, or you can now be held civilly liable. We were the first state in the country to pass civil penalties on those rogue doctors that were, as our attorney general described it, ‘a drug dealer.’ Because frankly … a doctor in Louisiana cannot give those pills to a woman to have an elective abortion. Of course, you and I know that those medications are used to induce labor … safely under a doctor’s care. But when they are misused and misappropriated, used to cause an abortion, you can’t have that here in Louisiana. So [I’m] very proud of our legislature [and] very proud of our governor for putting this into law and becoming the first state to do so.”

Emerson further expanded on the bill’s prospects in court when the inevitable legal challenges arise from pro-abortion activists.

“[T]he pro-abortionists out there are trying to add in more exceptions, erode our laws, find loopholes,” she observed. “I think they did with this opening of these out-of-state doctors being able to ship these pills into Louisiana, but thankfully we discovered it early [and] worked with our attorney general’s office. … [A]nd so, thankfully, [state AG Liz Murrill] joined forces with us. She came to [the] committee to testify on this bill, and certainly, we always expect when we do something like this that the pro-abortionists out there are going to try to come say that it’s wrong or unconstitutional or something like that. But the attorney general was sitting right next to us saying, ‘I have no problems defending this. We can absolutely defend this in court.’”

“I hope many other states follow your lead,” Perkins remarked.

LifeNews Note: Dan Hart writes for the Family Research Council. He is the senior editor of The Washington Stand.

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