Credit: Photo by DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images.
A Republican lawmaker in Tennessee introduced legislation this week that would penalize groups or individuals that mail abortion pills into the Volunteer State.
Rep. Gino Bulso (R- Brentwood) introduced the “Unborn Child Protection Act” on Monday to crack down on the number of illegal abortion pills that have been sent into Tennessee despite the state’s strong pro-life protections. The legislation would make individuals or groups sending pills into Tennessee liable for up to $5 million if the pill resulted in the death of an unborn child.
“A person or entity, including, but not limited to, a manufacturer, distributor, seller, or reseller, of an abortion-inducing drug shall not mail or deliver an abortion-inducing drug into this state,” the text of the bill says. “Notwithstanding another law to the contrary, a person or entity who mails or delivers an abortion-inducing drug into this state and the mailing or delivery results in the death of an unborn child is strictly liable in the amount of five million dollars ($5,000,000) in damages for the death of the unborn child.”
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, a number of robust pro-life laws went into effect in states like Tennessee that on paper banned all abortions in the state. However, leftist activists have eluded these bans by shipping pills directly in the mail to women seeking to end the life of their unborn child.
A Daily Wire investigation earlier this year revealed how a network of leftist activists have been shipping unregulated foreign abortion pills across the country with no age verification, no prescription, and no concern about state laws that may ban medication-induced abortions.
For less than $100, anyone can order abortion drugs such as mifepristone and misoprostol online without a prescription. Age is not verified nor is a medical professional ever consulted, meaning anyone, including young girls, can easily get their hands on the pills after brief interactions on a shady website.
Bulso told The Tennessean that he introduced the bill because he had learned of pills being shipped into the state.
“I learned that there were some young ladies in Tennessee who had ordered and received abortion pills through the mail,” he said. “I began thinking about what else we might be able to do, both to deter folks from breaking the law and to provide a civil remedy to the family of an unborn child who’s killed because abortion pills were illegally sent into the state.”
CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
One of the major organizations promoting the shipping of abortion pills to red states is Plan C, which describes itself as a “public health creative campaign” composed of public health advocates, researchers, social justice activists, and digital strategists.
“No amount of threat or fear will be successful in stopping abortion pills from entering Tennessee by mail,” Plan C co-founder Elisa Wells told The Tennessean.
President Joe Biden’s FDA allows abortion pills, namely Mifepristone, to be sent by mail per the Mifepristone REMS program, but the pills must be “dispensed by or under the supervision of a certified prescriber or by certified pharmacies for prescriptions issued by certified prescribers.”
An increasing number of abortions are being done via abortion pills and it is impossible to know how many are happening via mail-order abortion drugs.
Source link