Spearheaded by Missouri’s Andrew Bailey, the attorneys general told CVS and Walgreens officials, however, the OLC’s opinion “fails to stand up even to the slightest amount of scrutiny.” The OLC memorandum “admits that the plain text” of the law bars the use of the postal system to send or receive a drug that will be used for an abortion, they wrote. The opinion argues the law should be interpreted to ban the mailing of abortion pills “only when the mailer or recipient specifically intends that the pill be used in violation of other laws,” according to the letter.
“We reject the Biden administration’s bizarre interpretation, and we expect courts will as well,” they wrote.
The attorneys general also told CVS and Walgreens many states have laws prohibiting the use of the postal system to send or receive abortion pills.
In addition to Missouri, the other states represented by attorneys general who signed onto the letter were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Lankford, a Southern Baptist, sent a Jan. 25 letter to Garland that was endorsed by 21 other senators and 19 representatives and called for the memorandum to be “immediately rescinded” or rewritten “to articulate an accurate application of the law.”
Though abortion pills may be legally used in some states, and federal law “does not currently explicitly prohibit” such drugs, federal law does ban “the mailing or shipping of such items,” the congressional letter said. “Despite attempts to downplay this action, the ‘mere mailing’ of these items is expressly what the law has prohibited for nearly 150 years.”
Both the attorneys general and members of Congress expressed concern in their letters for the safety of mothers.
“The reckless distribution of abortion drugs by mail or other carriers to pregnant [women] who have not been examined in person by a physician is not only dangerous and unsafe, it is criminal,” Lankford and his colleagues said. They demanded Garland “shut down all mail-order abortion operations” and hold those who violate the federal ban on mailing abortion drugs accountable.
Laws in 18 states mandate a healthcare professional be present to administer abortion pills, therefore prohibiting the use of telemedicine for medical/chemical abortions.
On its website, the FDA said mifepristone is safe when used according to its guidelines in the first 10 weeks of gestation. It admitted, however, the deaths of 28 women who took mifepristone had been reported since 2000. The deaths and other “adverse events” could not “with certainty be causally attributed” to mifepristone, according to the FDA.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) – a pro-life, research organization – reported in 2021, however, a new study it conducted found “chemical abortion is consistently and progressively associated with more postabortion [emergency room] visit morbidity than surgical abortion.” An analysis of Medicaid claims information from 17 states that pay for abortions showed the “rate of abortion-related ER visits following a chemical abortion increased 507%” between 2002 and 2015, according to CLI.
This article originally appeared here.
