Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor is among 20 Republican state attorneys general who have warned pharmaceutical companies, CVS and Walgreens, that they could face legal consequences for distributing abortion pills at their storefronts.
The letter was sent Feb. 1 to Danielle Gray, executive vice president of Walgreens. It was also sent to Tom Moriarty, executive vice president and general counsel for CVS.
Referencing the Comstock Act of 1873, the letter states that federal law prohibits the distribution of abortion drugs through the mail, which Walgreens has said it intends to do.
“First, many people are not aware that federal law expressly prohibits using the mail to send or receive any drug that will ‘be used or applied for producing abortion,’” the letter begins. “Although many people are unfamiliar with this statute because it has not been amended in a few decades, the text could not be clearer: ‘every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion … shall not be conveyed in the mails.’ And anyone who ‘knowingly takes any such thing from the mails for the purpose of circulating’ is guilty of a federal crime.”
The letter acknowledges that the Biden administration’s Office of Legal Counsel “encouraged the U.S. Postal Service to disregard this plain text. But the text, not the Biden administration’s view, is what governs. And the Biden administration’s opinion fails to stand up even to the slightest amount of scrutiny.”
The attorneys general said they “reject the Biden administration’s bizarre interpretation, and we expect courts will as well. Courts do not lightly ignore the plain text of statutes. And the Supreme Court has been openly aversive to other attempts by the Biden administration to press antitextual arguments.”
If pharmacies disregard the law, the letter warns that they could soon see legal actions taken by the U.S. Attorney General’s office, as well as civil litigation through State Attorneys General.
The attorneys general conclude by emphasizing that they are committed to “protecting the lives and dignity of children, but also of women,” and that “abortion pills are far riskier than surgical abortions.”
“Medication abortions were 5.96 times as likely to result in a complication as first-trimester aspiration abortions,” the letter notes. “Abortion pills carry the added risk that when these heightened complications invariably occur, women suffer those harms at home, away from medical help. And finally, mail-order abortion pills also invite the horror of an increase in coerced abortions. When abortion drugs are mailed or consumed outside a regulated medical facility, the risk of coercion is much higher—indeed, guaranteed — because there is no oversight. Outside the regulated medical context, a person can obtain an abortion pill quite easily and then coerce a woman into taking it.”
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Following the DOJ’s publication of its opinion on the Comstock Act, the Food and Drug Administration quickly updated new guidelines regarding abortion pill access, which includes letting retail pharmacies apply for certification to carry the abortion drug, mifepristone.
Mifepristone is part of a two-part drug cocktail that causes the death and early abortion on an unborn baby.
Reacting to the letter, Walgreens said in a statement that it is not currently dispensing mifepristone, but that it is working to become eligible to distribute the drug. Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman also said that the company “fully understand[s] that we may not be able to dispense Mifepristone in all locations if we are certified under the program.”
ABC News reported that a spokesman for Walgreens said the company is not currently dispensing mifepristone, although they are working to become eligible.
“We fully understand that we may not be able to dispense Mifepristone in all locations if we are certified under the program,” a statement from spokesman Fraser Engerman read.
17 Comments
Thank you Treg. This is truly a battle for the safety of women.
Apparently murdering babies is so important that the Biden administration is willing to murder a few women as well. Appalling.
This decision by Governor Dunleavy’s Attorney General Treg Taylor is outstanding and courageous. This effectively pushes back by upholding the law in spite of a hostile federal administration bent on disregarding the law.
To indicate that this is courageous especially related to anything dunleavy, is foolish at best! Will dunleavy actually full fill his promises? A better question to ask about him is has he fulfilled his promises? A resounding no is clearly the answer!
A good start. Thank you AG Taylor especially inightcof our pro abortion Alaskan delegates to DC. I do not call them representatives as I believe they do not represent the majority of Alaskans
Women have been terminating unwanted pregnancies for as long as there have been women. It’s not that difficult to do, they assist one another, and for most of human history it really hasn’t been that big of an issue. Then the Trump appointees to the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, all their pretensions about “precedent” and “settled law” notwithstanding. Suddenly women in red states found themselves losing a significant measure of their self-determination in ways that men have no frame of reference for. Even for women who would personally never consider getting an abortion, the overturning of Roe v. Wade made them nervous, and this was reflected in the midterm elections last year.
For women of means, if they can’t get an abortion in the state in which they live, they will simply TRAVEL, and if they can’t get mifepristone pills in the local pharmacy, they’ll get them by mail. Cracking down on this will be next to impossible. The biggest effect the overturning of Roe v. Wade will have is on poorer women who can’t afford another mouth to feed, and we’ll simply expand the welfare rolls to accommodate all those kids.
Same thing over and over and over isn’t it Chuck? “Women have been terminating unwanted pregnancies for as long as there have been women.” Why is it that only recently these women are demanding others to pay for their promiscuity?
Tell me, Mr. FOH, if a woman has been found guilty of abortion, what penalty do YOU think she deserves?
Chuck, you did not answer my question. Why is it that only recently these women are demanding others to pay for their promiscuity? I am trying to understand this and I thought that perhaps you could shed some light on this.
Friend of Humanity: You sure revealed your patriarchal world view. First, both a man AND a woman engage in what you call promiscuity. Second, Certainly there are a lot of forced unwanted pregnancies – rape and incest. Third, health care options, which include family planning, are covered by a lot of federal programs. There’s nothing about family planning that runs counter to our current federal health care system.
Abortion is healthcare and deserves coverage just like any other healthcare procedure.
Lucinda, neither you or Chuck have answered my question.
I pray thay he stands his ground but let’s see what happens when democratic senetor lisa murky, her bands of activists and lawyers gets ahold of him.
This is promising news!
“BOMBSHELL: HOLDING THEM TO ACCOUNT FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY — PASCAL NAJADI & TODD CALLENDER”
https://www.sgtreport.com/2023/02/bombshell-holding-them-to-account-for-crimes-against-humanity-pascal-najadi-todd-callender/
I was told by a friend who talked to the head manager at the Fairbanks Walgreens that they have been selling the abortion pill for sometime and didn’t understand why all of a sudden it’s news.
Women should have the right to their own body. Anyone who wants to take them away is a deplorable.
The list of establishments that I will no longer support seems to be growing fast.