Cameron is among 20 Republican attorneys general warning CVS and Walgreens that mail-order abortion pills are unlawful
By Melissa Patrick
The coalition says federal law prohibits anyone from using the mail to send or receive any drug that will “be used or applied for producing abortion,” referring to the Comstock Act of 1873.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a legal opinion finding that mailing abortion drugs does not violate the Comstock Act and said the Postal Service is legally allowed to deliver prescription abortion pills to people in states that have strict bans on abortions, like Kentucky currently does.
After the legal opinion was issued, CVS and Walgreens announced plans to sell abortion pills through the mail.
In their letter, the attorneys general informed CVS and Walgreens that the Biden Administration has misinterpreted federal law.
The coalition writes, “Although many people are unfamiliar with this statute because it has not been amended in a few decades, the text could not be clearer: “Every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion … shall not be conveyed in the mails.’”
Further, the attorneys general also warned that sending abortion pills through the mail may violate the laws of many states across the country.
The coalition also says “abortion pills are far riskier than surgical abortions,” and according to medical consensus are “5.96 times as likely to result in a complication as first-trimester aspiration abortions.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation says, “The FDA has found that medication abortion is a safe and highly effective method of pregnancy termination. When taken, medication abortion successfully terminates the pregnancy 99.6% of the time, with a 0.4% risk of major complications, and an associated mortality rate of less than 0.001 percent (0.00064%).”
Cameron, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, signed the letter with attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.