The Food and Drug Administration has changed regulations, giving pharmacies the ability to dispense abortion drugs – but only with a prescription. Dr. Randall K. O'Bannon of the National Right to Life Committee contends that because the FDA will still require pharmacies to complete a series of paperwork, some of those pharmacies will decline.
"They have to make sure that the prescription they're getting is from a prescriber who has signed and filled out the proper FDA paperwork," he describes. "And then they have to monitor and keep track of all those files and information about where those pills have gone and what's happened."
While it's expected that pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreen's will sell the chemicals, other pharmacies are likely to choose not to for that reason. But O'Bannon tells AFN that's only one step in satisfying the rabid abortion supporters.
"The abortion industry is not satisfied with that. They really want to be able to just prescribe these pretty much to anybody they want without any sort of limits, and to be able to sell them over the counter," he laments.
"That's what they're aiming for; and that's not what the FDA has done here. But they have done something that's greatly concerning."
But the abortion industry, as it usually does, will continue to pressure Washington into doing just that: selling the dangerous abortion pills over the counter – in spite of statistics proving the pills have killed 28 American women and sent several thousand to hospital emergency rooms.
Read NRLC's factsheet on where states stand after the Dobbs decision
Don't mess with Texas
In a related matter, a legal opinion from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel clears the U.S. Postal Service to transport abortion pills by mail to all 50 states. But a legal group in Texas says that state already has laws on the books protecting it from the edict.
The DOJ told the USPS that mailing the lethal drugs won't violate federal law even though some states have banned it. But Jonathan Covey, director of policy with Texas Values, tells AFN two bills signed into law recently send a powerful message to those who might attempt to skirt around Texas' restrictions.
"… Senate Bill 4, which was passed last legislative session, makes it a felony to illegally transport abortion drugs by mail or any other type of means," the attorney explains. "So, out-of-state offenders could actually be extradited back into Texas to stand trial."
In addition, the trigger law (H.B. 1280) that also was passed in the last session means a provider could be charged under that statute and without violating the federal edict.
According to Covey, the upcoming legislative session in the Lone Star State will deal with passing laws to increase the prospect of dealing with violators.
"Particularly those that are mailed through the U.S. Postal Service or Fed Ex or UPS by manufacturers," he adds, "because right now we don't have great enforcement in terms of knowing whether manufacturers have actually mailed those pills … to a pregnant woman within the state."
But once such enforcement is in place, says Covey, Texas will have sufficient teeth to prosecute violators.
