There has been much information circulating about Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to halt the mailing of abortion pills. Many pro-life organizations are claiming “victory”, but as with all pro-life “victories” it is never what it seems (and hardly an actual victory).
The very first thing to note is that the typical chemical abortion regimen contains two different drugs—mifepristone (which starves the baby to death) and misoprostol (which expels the baby from the uterus). Chemical abortion can be done with misoprostol only and even before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, when abortion clinics were open in TN, Carefem in Mt. Juilet prescribed misoprostol only abortions. In short, stopping the use of mifepristone will not stop chemical abortions.
Now, let’s explore the most prominent misinformation. We believe this post from Tennessee Stands exposes the most espoused falsehoods. In a Facebook and X post from May 2nd, Tennessee Stands posted, “Another win at the Supreme Court. Abortion pills are being mailed into our state at a rampant rate, which makes our current pro life bills unable to enforce. If this can move forward, not only does it protect state sovereignty but it could make abortion actually illegal in Tennessee.” Nearly every claim made in this post is unfortunately false.
What is True
While it is true that thousands of Tennesseans are being willfully murdered by their own mothers using these pills, this is not what makes Tennessee abortion law (or abortion law in any other “ban” state) unenforceable. As with all pro-life legislation, Tennessee’s current laws concerning abortion allow a pregnant woman to purchase, receive, and ingest abortion pills to murder her child with legal immunity and impunity. Pill manufacturers outside of the US are not bound by US laws and will still ship the pills and women will still order and take them because it is legal in all 50 states for her to do so.
Pro-abortion advocates are already assuring patients of what I have stated above. Wisconsin State Senator and Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate, Kelda Roys, assured her potential voters that, “You can still order medication abortion from Aid Access dot org. The appeals court blocked FDA rules allowing the *mailing* of mifepristone, but in Wisconsin there is no penalty for ordering mifepristone or using it yourself. Aid Access is based in the Netherlands and will continue to distribute this safe, necessary medication to countries and states where abortion is criminalized or inaccessible.” What she claims concerning Wisconsin is the same here in Tennessee and in the 48 other states—it is legal for pregnant women to order the pills and use them to murder their child.
State Sovereignty and Illegal Abortion
Now back to the Tennessee Stands post. While they claim this protects state sovereignty and could potentially make abortion illegal in Tennessee, it will not. Out-of-country pill shippers will never be subject to U.S. laws. There is no way to stop any pills, abortion or otherwise, from being sent into the U.S.
Now, let us image that in some alternate universe there is a forcefield that keeps mifepristone from being able to come into the U.S., even if that were the case, abortion would still be legal in Tennessee (and all other states). Why? Because every pro-life and pro-abortion law in our nation allows a pregnant woman to murder her child(ren) in the womb with legal immunity and impunity.
The truth is that abortion will never be illegal in TN until our neighbors in the womb have equal justice under law. Currently, our law in TN states a pregnant woman can use “any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device with intent to terminate the pregnancy” legally until the moment of birth. Until our law changes to reflect equal justice under law for all humans (born and pre-born), abortion will always be legal in Tennessee.
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