US conservatives vow harsh restrictions to curtail abortion pills

[niyad]

US conservatives vow harsh restrictions to curtail abortion pills

Discreet and available by mail, abortion-inducing pills could make conservative abortion bans challenging to enforce.


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More than half of all the abortions in the US in 2020 were pill-induced rather than clinic procedures [File: George Frey/Reuters]
By Brian Osgood
Published On 1 Jul 20221 Jul 2022

The US Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that enshrined the legal right to abortion in the United States in federal law, reversing nearly 50 years of precedent and inflaming a sharp ideological divide. In 2020, more than half of US abortions were pill-induced which could complicate conservative efforts to enforce abortion bans. Abortion pills such as mifepristone and misoprostol will now take centre stage in battles between conservative states seeking to curtail abortion and liberal states fighting to safeguard it. Anti-abortion rights groups have indicated that they will take an increasingly punitive approach to restrict the availability of abortion pills, going so far as to promote potential prison time for those who share information about their use in states where abortion is banned.
. . . .

With Roe struck down, anti-abortion rights groups are facing a “completely different landscape” that will give states the ability to “revisit” policies that were not previously possible, Laura Echevarria, a spokesperson for the anti-abortion rights group National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), told Al Jazeera.


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Protesters hold each other at a rally in favour of abortion rights in San Francisco, California which has pledged to become a sanctuary state for those who travel from states with abortion bans seeking the procedure [Josie Lepe/AP Photo]

Elected officials such as district attorneys, who in the US criminal legal system are given substantial flexibility to decide which crimes to focus enforcement efforts on, could also play a role. On the day that Roe was overturned, the progressive group Fair and Just Prosecution released a statement signed by dozens of prosecutors and DAs across the country pledging that, even in states where abortion is outlawed, they will not focus their prosecution efforts on cases relating to abortion.That is a strategy that some conservative states and anti-abortion rights groups have anticipated. Texas is considering legislation that would give DAs the power to prosecute cases in municipalities other than their own, giving conservatives the ability to crack down on areas under the control of more liberal officials who may not prioritise enforcement of abortion bans.

. . . .

Anti-abortion rights groups have consistently sought to portray medically induced abortions as dangerous and unpredictable, but this is not a position rooted in scientific evidence.
. . .

Hey Jane, a telehealth abortion provider, told Al Jazeera in a statement that, “Abortion care via mail is now likely to be the most viable form of access for most of the country.” Other providers that are based outside the US, such as the group Aid Access, could also pose a challenge to conservatives seeking to penalise providers: it is difficult to see what path is available for cracking down on such groups, which have experience sending the pills to countries where abortion has been illegal for years. Still, liberal states seeking to protect abortion rights and assist those who travel from red states to seek them out will face challenges of their own, and conservatives have promised to target people who travel to obtain abortions, even in states where they are still legal.

One such challenge will be the increased scale of demand blue states will have to accommodate. The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research group, has estimated that California could become the closest source of abortion care for hundreds of thousands of women. The state’s Governor Gavin Newsom has called for funding to prepare for an “influx of women seeking reproductive healthcare” in California.

. .. .

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/1/conservatives-seek-restrictive-measures-to-penalize-abortion-pills

[IA8IT]

1. US liberals to conservatives: FUCK ALL Y'ALL

November you will remember is coming to get you.

[Raven]

4. Respectfully, I haven't seen any indication that we are in a position to "get" anybody. Voting

suppression laws have already been passed in many states, state legislatures have been all but taken over by these fascists. The Supreme Court is lost for years to come unless it is expanded and we don't have the votes to do that. It is 4 months until the mid-terms and all I see is wishful thinking.

[Initech]

2. Get your fucking church out of my government, NOW, you religious psychopaths!

And fuck your stupid god damn news network too!

[dlk]

3. Republican hatred of women knows no limits

It’s misogyny on steroids. They have no respect for women’s lives and are just getting started stripping women of their rights.

[andym]

5. Justice Thomas has suggested that no right to ANY contraceptives exist

in his written argument. SC may end that "right" in their next session.

[Deminpenn]

8. Interestingly, Thomas only has 1 child

And that son by his first wife. He and Ginni married in 1987, she was 30 and he 39, plenty of good child-making years for them both. Unless they are both celibate, someone was using birth control.

[Hortensis]

13. Yes. This is BIG, BIG, BIG. Itm, AG Garland says states may not ban FDA-approved

abortion pills based on disagreement about efficacy and safety. Presumably, it'd have to be for another, legally supportable reason. Is there one?

[M_Demo_M]

6. The term "Conservative" needs to be retired.

They are Radical Christo-Fascists

[dalton99a]

7. +1

[Bucky]

10. Even the label "Christian" isn't really accurate for them.

They're Christianity is as much a cosplay as their claims to be conserving social values or favoring personal liberty.

In Christianity specifically denounces the worship of money, the taking of mob justice against supposed "sinners", the lust for war, the public display of performative piety, all forms of hypocrisy, and the social ostracization of the poor and sick.

Yet these are all values that today's Republican party, especially the Maga crowd, stands for square against. Theirs is the party of idolatry, the party of the worship of money, and the party of nihilistic atavism. That's got nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth. They worship power for power sake and only call it "Jesus"

[Bucky]

9. This isn't conservatism. It's radical retrofeudalism

It's not just the Plan B pills they are coming after. They're coming after IUDs and other contraceptives, in addition to same sex marriage and then same sex relationships.

It's not a majority of them. It's not even a lot of them. But the thing to remember with Republicans is that they don't care about what the populace wants. One thing Trump has showed us is that 70% of Republicans (and 98% of Republican elected officials) are all perfectly willing to shut up and line up whenever the top dog barks orders.

They are a stunningly compliant people. The phrase individual liberty is a smokescreen to them to enforce blind conformity. When Dubya said he was against gay marriage but was perfectly okay with people forming whatever contractual relationships they want their personal life, they laid off the gay bashing and start accepting donations from The Log Cabin Republicans.

Once Trump figured out flipping up anti LGBTQ hatreds was more effective at controlling the crowds, they went in the extreme hate direction. And they're all perfectly okay with that, so long as they win and have a scapegoat to distract them from the big corporations robbing them blind.

It's not like someone's even controlling the Republican party at this point. They need to quit using the elephant as their symbol and embrace the more accurate metaphor of the runaway train. They're nihilistic. There is no conductor anymore and they won't stop until everybody's dead

[scarletlib]

11. The states do not control the Post Office.

They have no jurisdiction to inspect, intercept, open or otherwise tamper with the mail.
The post office has its own postal inspectors/ Marshall’s. Any substance that is legal to mail cannot be confiscated. Medical drugs approved by the FDA are legal.
Only postal authorities are allowed to open and inspect the contents of your mailbox.

Granted this is my opinion based on what I have read and know about the post office.

The states can try but the post office can tell them to f**k off
I think that would work as long as the Federal Government backs them up.

[Hortensis]

14. USAG Garland has pledged to "work tirelessly to protect and advance

reproductive freedom. The Justice Department “strongly disagrees” with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling which guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. The department supports efforts to codify Roe into law and is “ready to work with other arms of the federal government that seek to use their lawful authorities to protect and preserve access to reproductive care.”

Thanks for pointing out the authorities and mandates of the USPS, Scarletlib.

[ret5hd]

12. "...target people who travel to obtain abortions..."

Next up: targeting women who never lived in or visited a “Gilead state”, had an abortion at some point, then visited a “Gilead state” and are arrested.