Republican AGs Say CVS, Walgreens’ Abortion Pill Plans Are ‘Illegal’
The Hill reports on a letter sent by 20 Republican attorneys general alleging plans by pharmacy chains to distribute abortion pills by mail are "unsafe and illegal." NPR, meanwhile, notes that a decision on access to abortion drug mifepristone lies in the hands of a Trump-appointed Texas judge.
Twenty Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to U.S-based pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS on Wednesday, telling both companies their plans to distribute abortion pills through the mail are 鈥渂oth unsafe and illegal.鈥澛營n the letter, the coalition wrote that federal law prohibits anyone from using the mail to send or receive any drug that will 鈥渂e used or applied for producing abortion,鈥 referring to the Comstock Act of 1873. (Oshin, 2/1)
In other abortion news from Texas, Nebraska, West Virginia, and Kentucky 鈥
A case before a federal judge in Texas could dramatically alter abortion access in the United States 鈥 at least as much, some experts say, as the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision last year, which overturned decades of abortion-rights precedent. (McCammon, 2/1)
The Nebraska Legislature鈥檚 Health and Human Services Committee took nearly eight hours of testimony Wednesday before adjourning without a vote on whether to advance a bill that would outlaw abortion at a point before many women know they鈥檙e pregnant. Hundreds of people crowded the halls of the state Capitol for a committee hearing on a so-called heartbeat bill. The bill would ban abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which is generally around the sixth week of pregnancy. (Beck, 2/2)
West Virginia's only abortion clinic and the clinic's primary doctor on Wednesday filed a lawsuit challenging the near-total abortion ban passed by the state last year, saying it violates patients' constitutional rights. In their complaint in the Charleston, West Virginia federal court, Women's Health Center of West Virginia and the doctor, identified as John Doe, are asking the court for an immediate order blocking enforcement of the law while the case goes forward. (Pierson, 2/1)
At 52, Susan Rames was looking for a way to give back. She worked part-time at a Kentucky hospital as a postpartum nurse and, with her three children nearly grown, she had some extra time during the week. Motivated by her Christian faith, Rames decided to volunteer at ALC Pregnancy Resource Center, a crisis pregnancy center whose mission is to discourage people from seeking abortions. (Morel, 2/2)
