Next battle over access to abortion will focus on pills
Associated Press— It took two trips over state lines, navigating icy roads and a patchwork of state laws, for a 32-year-old South Dakota woman to get abortion pills last year. It’s going to be much harder for states to control abortion access,” she said, adding, “The question is how is it going to be enforced?” Abortion law experts say it’s an unsettled question whether states can restrict access to abortion pills in the wake of the FDA’s decision. The question is whether a state can make a viable, winning argument that, for public health purposes, it needs to further regulate access to the relevant medications.” Hermer said she doesn’t think there is a valid public health reason because the published evidence is that the drugs are “exceptionally safe.” But if the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade and a state gives embryos and fetuses full rights as people “then all bets would be off.” The Planned Parenthood regional organization that includes South Dakota doesn’t believe it can legally mail abortion pills to patients there. “But,” she added, “we don’t feel like we have liberty to mail pills from Minnesota to other places in the country where it’s illegal to provide medication abortion.” Sue Leibel, the state policy director for Susan B. Anthony List, a prominent organization opposed to abortion, acknowledged that medication abortions have “crept up” on Republican state lawmakers.