Federal government entities recently moved to further expand access to abortion drugs.
The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it will now allow pharmacies and mail-order companies to offer abortion drugs. Then, the Department of Justice announced that the United States Postal Service can continue delivering abortion drugs throughout the country, even to states where abortion is illegal.
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, Texas became an abortion-free state as the “trigger law” went into full effect. However, with a new legislative session beginning this week, Democrat lawmakers across the state are pushing to give women the “right” to kill their unborn child.
Unfortunately, throughout the United States, the woke government is working to do the same, and with Democrat lawmakers and “Republicans” holding office in Texas, these new laws and rules being passed could affect currently pro-life Texas.
Chemical abortion—otherwise known as abortion-by-mail, abortion drugs, and abortion pills—has been a rising issue for years. In Texas, the biggest issue with abortion is chemical abortion. The FDA, USPS, and DOJ have made new moves to further access to abortion drugs throughout the nation, including in Texas.
The FDA recently reinforced “abortion exceptionalism,” allowing it to be a process that is not specifically determined by a physician but rather, allowing abortifacients to be an over-the-counter drug that any pharmacy can sell.
The FDA claimed that this was because it is a “safe” way to end an unborn life. The FDA explained that telehealth organizations have already been utilizing abortion-by-mail and, according to them, the procedure is completely safe and efficient.
Following their announcement that the drugs should be over-the-counter, the FDA explained that they will require those who sell the drugs to go through an extensive list of follow-through precautions.
According to Texas Right to Life Senior Legislative Associate Rebecca Parma, the FDA’s decision does not apply to Texas.
“We are disheartened but unsurprised by the FDA’s radical expansion of access to abortion-inducing drugs via pharmacies,” Parma said, “but thankfully Texas’ pro-life laws are clear to prohibit such expansion from affecting Texas. Our laws specify that only a physician can dispense or in any way transfer chemical abortion drugs, so the FDA’s decision will not impact Texas or our ability to protect preborn children from abortion.”
Following the FDA’s announcement, the DOJ announced its approval of the USPS’ desire to continue shipping and transporting mailed abortion drugs.
The DOJ explained in a statement that the Comstock Act of 1873 does not apply to mailing abortion drugs. The Comstock Act made it illegal to send “obscene, lewd or lascivious, immoral, or indecent publications” through the mail.
Theoretically, this decision could allow women in life sanctuary states, like Texas, to obtain abortion drugs through the mail much more easily with the FDA saying women no longer need a licensed physician to prescribe them the drugs and can get them mailed directly to their house.
The USPS said in a statement to the Houston Press:
“Many packages that may contain prescription drugs are sealed against inspection under federal law and therefore the Postal Service lacks knowledge of the specific contents of such packages. Even if the Postal Service may be aware that a particular package contains mifepristone and misoprostol, the Postal Service lacks a sufficient basis to conclude that any particular package is unmailable under the Comstock Act based upon where it will be mailed and delivered for the reasons articulated in the OLC opinion.”
“Both decisions highlight the need that Texas has during the upcoming legislative session to enforce our strong pro-life laws and hold the abortion industry fully accountable to those laws,” said Parma. “We cannot let such deadly innovations by the abortion industry become the status quo.”
With the 88th Legislative Session starting this week, Texas lawmakers are fighting alongside grassroots organizations to protect unborn lives.
Texans can find contact information for their elected representatives here.
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