(From Attorney General Andrew Bailey)In an effort to uphold the laws as written and defend the welfare of women and unborn children, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey led a coalition of 20 state attorneys general to CVS and Walgreens informing them that their announced plan to use the mail to distribute abortion pills is both unsafe and illegal.
“As Attorney General, it is my responsibility to enforce the laws as written, and that includes enforcing the very laws that protect Missouri’s women and unborn children,” said Attorney General Bailey. “My Office is doing everything in its power to inform these companies of the law, with the promise that we will use every tool at our disposal to uphold the law if broken.”
CVS and Walgreens recently announced that they are seeking FDA certification to use the mail to sell abortion pills. CVS and Walgreens announced this decision after the Biden administration endorsed abortion by mail in an attempt to circumvent the right of states to protect women and children.
Abortion pills impose far higher risks of complications compared to surgical abortions. In addition, abortion pills, especially when distributed by mail, make coerced abortions much easier.
The letter informs CVS and Walgreens that “Federal law expressly prohibits using the mail to send or receive any drug that will ‘be used or applied for producing abortion’… 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 informs CVS and Walgreens that “Federal law expressly prohibits using the mail to send or receive any drug that will ‘be used or applied for producing abortion’… 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.”
Additionally, the letter notes that the practice of abortion by mail endorsed by the Biden administration violates state law. “In Missouri, for example, it is unlawful to distribute an abortion drug through the mail. Missouri law also prohibits unfair or deceptive trade practices—and trade practices that violate federal law necessarily are unfair and deceptive.”
“We emphasize that it is our responsibility as State Attorneys General to uphold the law and protect the health, safety, and well-being of women and unborn children in our states,” the attorneys general conclude in the letter. “Part of that responsibility includes ensuring that companies like yours are fully informed of the law so that harm does not come to our citizens.”
Missouri authored the letter, and was joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
The full letter to Walgreens can be viewed here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/2023-02-01-fda-rule---walgreens-letter-danielle-gray.pdf?sfvrsn=ff1e6652_2
The full letter to CVS can be viewed here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/2023-02-01-fda-rule---cvs-letter-tom-moriarty.pdf?sfvrsn=d42cfc2b_2
No comments:
Post a Comment