(The Center Square) – On the three-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, dozens of state lawmakers and prolife groups on Tuesday called on Gov. Greg Abbott to add an abortion pill ban to the legislative agenda for the special session.
Abbott called a special session to begin July 21, listing six bills on the agenda. A pro-life governor who has signed some of the most pro-life bills into law in the country, Abbott did not make banning the abortion pill a legislative priority for the regular legislative session or at any time in the last three years since Texas’ abortion ban went into effect.
Despite Texas’ legislative abortion bans, abortion medications mifepristone (Mifeprex) and Misoprostol are being delivered in Texas.
A movement to ban their sale and delivery in Texas failed in the legislature last month, after a bill filed by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, passed the Senate but died in the House. SB 2880, the Woman and Child Protection Act, would ban the sale of abortion-inducing drugs in Texas and authorize private civil right of action against violators. It would increase civil liability tools to use “against those trafficking abortion pills,” including those “mailing, delivering, or trafficking abortion pills.” It would also “hold manufacturers and distributors of abortion pills liable and would include market-share liability” and “allow women and families to bring wrongful death and injury suits six years after being injured by abortion,” according to the bill analysis.
Mifepristone was developed in 1988 and approved by the FDA in 2000 “when used together with another medicine … misoprostol … to end an intrauterine pregnancy through ten weeks gestation.” The FDA also approved a generic version of Mifeprex in 2019.
Women are 10 times more likely to die from abortion pills than from a surgical abortions, state Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, argued when advocating for the bill to be moved out of committee in order for the House to vote on it.
Abortion pills were made solely “to kill babies. That is the only use for which that product was designed,” Little said. Banning them “will make a difference in the lives of Texans. It will save the lives of babies.”
“Approximately 19,000 abortion pills are mailed into Texas each year,” the letter to Abbott states. “Every successful abortion ends the life of an innocent preborn child and places a woman at serious risk.”
In a recent north Texas case, a woman claimed her ex-boyfriend purchased an abortion pill online and put it in her drink without her knowing, resulting in her pregnancy being terminated, The Center Square reported. He denies the accusation; critics argue had the delivery of abortion pills been banned in Texas, her baby might still be alive.
Abortion pills, referred to as “Plan C,” are not regulated in Texas and freely accessible by mail. “Abortion access in Texas is restricted, but abortion pills are still available by mail from providers outside of Texas,” according to a Plan C website that provides the pills. It notes that online clinics sell the pills to those “who want abortion pills by mail and follow-up support from a clinician;” websites sell the pills to those “who want abortion pills by mail without consulting a clinician;” and community networks sell the pills to those “who can’t afford other services and want free pills mailed by volunteers.”
The coalition argues that abortion pills aren’t safe, citing an Ethics & Public Policy Center analysis of insurance data that found that nearly 11% of women “experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following a mifepristone abortion.” The analysis was based on data from an all-payer insurance claims database including 865,727 prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023.
The center argues that the “FDA should immediately reinstate its earlier, stronger patient safety protocols to ensure physician responsibility for women who take mifepristone under their care, as well as mandate full reporting of its side effects” and “investigate the harm mifepristone causes to women and, based on objective safety criteria, reconsider its approval altogether.”
Under the Texas constitution, only the governor can call a special session and direct the legislature on the bills they are instructed to consider. The governor can amend items on the agenda and also extend the special session by another 30 days.
