Three States Advance Bills To Stop Mail-Order Abortion Drugs

JACKSON, MS – Recently, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arizona legislatures advanced bills aiming to stop the mailing of dangerous chemical abortion drugs to their residents to expand protections for women and unborn children. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision returned authority to the states to regulate abortion, chemical abortions via mail-order pills sent in by out-of-state providers have circumvented abortion bans in pro-life states. 

Currently, Mississippi and Tennessee have near-total abortion bans where in-state distribution of abortion pills, such as Mifepristone, via mail or telehealth is illegal.

Mississippi legislators passed House Bill 1613, which amends the state’s overall drug trafficking laws, and classifies sending abortion pills into the state as a form of drug trafficking when prescribed without an in-person visit and with the intent to cause an abortion. Violators of the law could face prison time for one to 10 years, while the state can seek “declaratory or injunctive relief, and to recover civil penalties and costs” from those offenders, explains the amendment. The law passed overwhelmingly in the state House 76-38 and 37-15 in the Senate. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves is expected to sign the bill into law. The law will take effect July 1, 2026.

State Rep. Celeste Hurst, who introduced the mail-order amendment, clarified the Mississippi law does not restrict the legitimate uses for these drugs, such as treating miscarriages.

Tennessee’s House Bill 5, which advanced out of the state assembly’s House Health Committee to the state Senate, aims to hold out-of-state abortion pill distributors liable in wrongful death lawsuits if drugs mailed into the state caused the death of a unborn child. The bill would allow family members, including the child’s mother, to sue the abortion pill provider that sent the drugs. The law allows distributors to face a minimum of $1 million in liability damages for the wrongful death of an unborn child.

Every state should stop the mail-order murder of babies

Earlier this year, the Arizona House of Representatives advanced HB 2364 that would make “providing an abortion-inducing drug via courier, delivery, or mail service” a felony carrying a prison sentence of up to four years. The bill would also make ordering abortion drugs—not just mailing them—a class one misdemeanor, which would carry a penalty of up to six months in jail or fines of up to $2,500.

However, if the bill advances into law, it could face a legal challenge considering the state has a constitutional “right” to abortion which passed via referendum by Arizona residents in 2024. State courts have already struck down several pro-life laws because of the constitutional amendment.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Tragically, mail-order abortions circumvent state laws to still kill thousands of precious unborn babies. Every human being in the womb has the inalienable right to life. These state legislatures have recognized that chemical abortion drugs cruelly kill defenseless children and harm women, and abortion pill providers must be held accountable. Every state should stop the mail-order murder of babies.”

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