Georgia Senate Committee Passes Pro-Life Bill Banning Mail-Order Abortions

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Feb 9, 2022   |   6:28PM   |   Atlanta, Georgia

Georgia Senate lawmakers took action Wednesday to protect mothers and unborn babies from dangerous mail-order abortion drugs.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports a state Senate committee voted 7-5 to advance pro-life legislation to ban abortion drugs from being sold through the mail.

The Women’s Health and Safety Act (Senate Bill 456), sponsored by state Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, would require abortion facilities to provide the abortion drug mifepristone to women in person by a doctor after an ultrasound.

“We value the health and safety of each person in our state, especially the women that are facing the difficult decision of whether to terminate her pregnancy or not,” Thompson said, according to the newspaper. “This bill is intended to protect these women from the reckless actions of those mailing these drugs to women without ensuring she receives the necessary and required care to ensure her health and safety are not compromised.”

Pro-life lawmakers and advocates emphasized the need for the added protections after the Biden administration got rid of safety regulations for the abortion drug mifepristone late last year. Unless states enact laws that say otherwise, abortion businesses now may sell abortion drugs through the mail without ever seeing or even talking to the woman.

Katie Glenn, of Americans United for Life, said the bill establishes important safeguards to protect pregnant women.

“There are abortionists who are willing to mail out pills without ever seeing a patient in person or even on video,” Glenn said. “SB 456 will prevent at-home, pill-by-mail DIY abortions that leave women to fend for themselves if medical complications arise.”

The Susan B. Anthony List also praised the bill for having some of the “strongest safeguards against dangerous chemical abortion drugs” in the U.S.

TAKE ACTION: To support this bill, please contact the Georgia state Senate.

“We are pleased to see this vital bill advance one step closer to becoming law,” SBA List southern regional director Caitlin Connors said. “Chemical abortion drugs are dangerous to both unborn children and their mothers, sending women to the emergency room at a rate that has skyrocketed more than 500 percent since the early 2000s.”

However, abortion activists with Planned Parenthood criticized the legislation, claiming it is nothing more than a political stunt.

“This bill is nothing but a performative bill in the middle of an election year,” said Staci Fox, CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates. “Abortion has already been decided in this state.”

Fox mentioned that Georgia lawmakers already banned abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable in 2019. However, the law is blocked by a court order.

The abortion drug mifepristone is used to abort unborn babies up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. It blocks the hormone progesterone and basically starves the baby to death. For decades, the FDA required that abortionists provide the drug in-person after a medical examination because of its high risks. In December, however, the Biden administration got rid of the in-person requirement and began allowing the drug to be sold through the mail.

In response, a number of states are taking action this year to protect women’s safety by banning mail-order abortions.

The FDA has linked the abortion drug to at least 24 women’s deaths and 4,000 serious complications between 2000 and 2018. Under President Barack Obama, the FDA stopped requiring that non-fatal complications from mifepristone be reported. So the numbers almost certainly are much higher.

Studies indicate the risks of the abortion drug are much more common than what abortion activists often claim, with as many as one in 17 women requiring hospital treatment.

A recent study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that the rate of abortion-related emergency room visits by women taking the abortion drug increased more than 500 percent between 2002 and 2015.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, new government health data shows a massive hospitalization rate due to abortion drugs after the government began allowing mail-order abortion drugs in 2020. According to the data, more than 10,000 women who received the abortion drugs by mail needed hospital treatment in 2020, or about one in 17 women.

A 2009 study “Immediate Complications After Medical Compared With Surgical Termination of Pregnancy,” in “Obstetrics and Gynecology” found a complication rate of approximately 20 percent for the abortion drugs compared to 5.6 percent for surgical abortions. Hemorrhages and incomplete abortions were among the most common complications.

TAKE ACTION: To support this bill, please contact the Georgia state Senate.