In a letter to Congress on Tuesday, a group of conservative attorneys general, led by Tim Griffin, the attorney general of Arkansas, requested assistance in halting the shipping of abortion drugs to Arkansas and other states that prohibit abortion.
Arkansas has had one of the worst abortion restrictions in the nation since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Even when the mother’s health is at risk or there has been rape or incest, the surgery is prohibited. Arkansas only allows abortions when a mother’s life is in danger. This arbitrary criterion has resulted in cases where women are compelled to carry unviable pregnancies while their health dangerously declines.
Data indicates that, in spite of the restriction, the number of abortions performed in Arkansas hasn’t decreased significantly since 2022 and may have even gone up.Women flying out of state for abortions is somewhat to blame, but the primary cause is the accessibility and convenience of using medications that cause abortions early in pregnancy. Numerous websites offering to ship abortion pills to women in Arkansas and other states with similarly strict bans, without asking any questions, may be found with a fast Google search.
Griffin and other AGs from Republican states claim that this has been made simpler by blue states enacting new legislation in recent years that shields healthcare professionals and others from legal repercussions if they mail abortion drugs. The letter to federal politicians, which requests that Congress pursue legislation to bypass blue-state shield laws, was announced by Griffin during a press conference on Tuesday morning.
According to Griffin, such policies are being implemented nationwide and make it more challenging to hold the actors accountable. He claimed that these shield laws shelter providers from the repercussions of blatantly breaking Arkansas law.
According to Griffin, Congress should be able to prevent states from passing such legislation by using the Constitution’s commerce clause.
However, since Roe was overturned, Republicans have seen severe abortion restrictions as a disadvantage, and Congress might not be willing to address the matter. The federal restriction that many pro-life groups envision has been rejected by President Trump, who sees it as a political dead end.
On Tuesday morning, Griffin sidestepped a reporter’s question concerning that fact. He stated, “This is not about me enforcing New York law or vice versa.” It has to do with one state interfering with the application of another’s laws. He admitted that it could be challenging to get Congress to take action.
The Arkansas AG’s office is sending four fresh cease-and-desist letters to businesses that, according to Griffin, are mailing abortion drugs to Arkansas, promoting the pills online, or helping to facilitate the advertisements, he added on Tuesday.In May 2024, he wrote two similar letters to a European reproductive rights nonprofit and a health care provider in New York.
This is the video of Griffin’s Tuesday morning announcement. Here is his complete press release as well:
Attorney General Griffin Issues Four Cease-and-Desist Letters to Congress, Urging Them to Stop the Shipment of Abortion Pills to Arkansas
Griffin: Regardless of one’s opinion of the law, it is imperative that it be enforced because it is quite explicit on this matter.
A TINY ROCKAfter spearheading a multistate petition to Congress, Attorney General Tim Griffin released the following statement, encouraging lawmakers to take into consideration enacting federal legislation to preempt pro-abortion States shield laws that aim to protect companies that supply abortion medication to states where abortion is prohibited:
In 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, a landmark ruling that rightfully gave individual states jurisdiction over abortion law. Since many states, including Arkansas, have banned abortion, we have had to deal with the illicit importation of abortion drugs like mifepristone, which are used to cause chemical abortions. Regardless of one’s opinion of the law, it is imperative that it be enforced because it is so explicit on this matter.
In order to address this issue, I joined 15 other attorneys general in writing to Congress today, requesting that they think about taking action at the federal level. Following the Dobbs ruling, several states enacted legislation ostensibly protecting abortion providers from prosecution and punishment for performing or assisting in abortions in other states. These measures are flagrant attempts to undermine our constitutional framework and impede states’ authority to enforce criminal laws within their borders. As a result, we are requesting that Congress take into account enacting legislation that supersedes shield laws.
Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming all had attorneys general who joined Griffin on the letter.
Click here to read the letter to Congress.
In the statement that followed, Griffin said that he had written cease-and-desist letters to two organizations that were either shipping abortion pills to Arkansas or promoting the availability of abortion pills for shipment to Arkansas. Additionally, two businesses—one domain registry and one domain host—that sponsor a website that advertises the abortion-inducing medications received two cease-and-desist letters from Griffin.
I have already written to advertisers and providers who were flagrantly breaking Arkansas law, and I will keep trying to hold them responsible as long as this practice persists.
The letters were addressed to Cloudflare of San Francisco, Mayday Medicines Inc. of New York, Dreamscape International of Singapore, and Possibility Labs of San Francisco. You can examine them by clicking on the recipient’s name.
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