The Justice Department gave the go-ahead for the U.S. Postal Service to continue delivering abortion pills, including in states that limit their use, as the Biden administration continues to steamroll restrictions on pregnancy-termination drugs.
In a 21-page legal opinion, the department said that the delivery of mifepristone and misoprostol, the two-drug abortion regimen, is permitted under the Comstock Act of 1873 and in states with limits on abortion pills, arguing that they can be ingested for other purposes, such as treating a miscarriage.
As a result, the sender and mail carrier would be unaware of the reason for the drugs and whether their use would conflict with state law, said Christopher H. Schroeder, Office of Legal Counsel assistant attorney general.
“Thus, no matter where the drugs are delivered, a variety of uses of mifepristone and misoprostol serve important medical purposes and are lawful under federal and state law,” Mr. Schroeder said. “Accordingly, USPS could not reasonably assume that the drugs are nonmailable simply because they are being sent into a jurisdiction that significantly restricts abortion.”
The legal opinion was posted Tuesday, the same day that the Food and Drug Administration approved modifications allowing retail pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens to fill prescriptions for mifepristone after receiving certification.
Both GenBioPro and Danco Laboratories, which manufacture mifepristone, praised the FDA’s decision
“At a time when people across the country are struggling to obtain abortion care services this modification is critically important to expanding access to medication abortion services and will provide healthcare providers with an additional method for providing their patients with a safe and effective option for ending early pregnancy,” Danco said in a statement.
The Postal Service Can Continue to Deliver Abortion Pills Anywhere in America, DoJ Says https://t.co/JkK2UuixSH pic.twitter.com/xUaie0hap1
— GovExec (@GovExec) January 4, 2023
Meanwhile, pro-life groups accused the Biden administration of running roughshod over legal and medical protocols in its haste to expand post-Roe abortion access.
Students for Life of America president Kristan Hawkins said that a “weaponized Department of Justice is once again putting abortion industry interests first in attacking the rights of each of the 50 states to protect their citizens.”
A half-dozen states have banned mailing abortion-inducing medication, including Louisiana, where Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a bill last year making it a crime to deliver, dispense or distribute such drugs to pregnant women.
“The abortion industry has certainly found a friend in President Biden who has allowed his support for abortion extremism to now advocate for a Wild West approach to the U.S. mail service,” Ms. Hawkins said in a statement.
“At this rate, Biden and his team won’t be happy until NASA finds a way to put Chemical Abortion Pills on the moon,” she said.
Others cited medical risks associated with self-administered abortion drugs. The pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute said its peer-reviewed research found women have a 53% greater risk for an emergency room visit for complications from chemical abortions than from surgical abortions.
“Rather than concern for the safety of women, the Biden Administration is actively growing the profits of the abortion industry,” said Jor-El Godsey, Heartbeat International president. “This is just the latest effort for abortion-supporting politicians to favor their friends at Big Abortion while leaving women all alone in their abortion decision and the aftermath of harmful chemicals.”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president, said abortion pills “can cause dangerous complications including hemorrhage and infection, and complications are more likely when pills are dispensed without medical screening or follow-up care.”
“State lawmakers and Congress must stand as a bulwark against the Biden administration’s pro-abortion extremism,” Ms. Dannenfelser said. “We hope to see the FDA do its job to protect the lives of women and put an end to chemical abortions.”
The U.S. Postal Service, which had requested the legal opinion, said that the Justice Department’s interpretation protects mail carriers from liability.
“The OLC’s analysis confirms that the Comstock Act does not require the Postal Service to change our current practice, which has been to consider packages containing mifepristone and misoprostol to be mailable under federal law in the same manner as other prescription drugs,” the USPS said in a statement.
The Biden administration has sought to loosen restrictions on abortion pills in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s June 24 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
Last year, the FDA permanently lifted restrictions requiring abortion pills to be dispensed in person, allowing the drugs to be delivered by mail, despite restrictions in multiple states.
The pro-choice Guttmacher Institute said that abortion pills can only be prescribed by a physician in 29 states, and that 18 states further require the pills to be administered in the presence of a clinician.
Abortion pills accounted for 51% of pregnancy terminations in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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