As frightening a thought as it is, it feels more and more likely that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade. As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic—and we assume as a reaction to the Texas law effectively banning abortion after six weeks—the Biden administration found a stop-gap measure.
In December, the administration temporarily waived the requirement for pregnant women to visit a medical facility in person to gain access to the abortion pill with a prescription. In January, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) made the temporary allowance permanent. This week in Georgia, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved a measure 7-5 banning women from receiving the pill through the mail.
Senate Bill 456 was filed on Feb. 3 by Republican Sen. Bruce Thompson, who represents (I can’t make this up) the 14th District in White (and it is at 77.1% white), Georgia.
“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 Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC). “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.”
SB 456 also includes wording that is clearly a lie. The bill informs doctors that they “may” tell patients that an abortion can be reversed after taking the pill. An earlier version of the bill required doctors to tell patients the abortion can be reversed after taking the pill. Both are categorically incorrect. The bill was named “Women’s Health and Safety Act”—also a blatantly incorrect name for the bill.
State Sen. Michelle Au, a Johns Creek Democrat and anesthesiologist, told AJC there is zero science behind telling patients that a drug-induced abortion can be reversed. She added that the name of the bill was ironic.
“In the interest of promoting women’s health and safety, we should not be codifying pseudoscience into law,” Au said. “And we should not be overseeing or stipulating how physicians and caretakers should best take care of their patients.”
Mifepristone, the prescription medication licensed for abortion in the U.S., was approved by the FDA in 2000. The medication is the preferred method for terminating a pregnancy up until 10 weeks.
According to Planned Parenthood, although there are claims about treatments that supposedly reverse the effects of a medication abortion and despite a handful of states that require doctors and nurses to tell patients about them, “these claims haven’t been proven in reliable medical studies — nor have they been tested for safety, effectiveness, or the likelihood of side effects — so experts like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reject these untested supposed treatments.”
Republicans are constantly trying to wiggle around the Supreme Court. Texas, along with Florida, is one of at least 13 states that have introduced legislation limiting or banning abortion in 2022 alone.
Florida Republicans are attempting to frame themselves as taking the reasonable middle road … as they propose a bill with restrictions on abortion that are absolutely unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade and the decades of precedent since, which has allowed abortion to the point of fetal viability, usually 22 to 24 weeks. The 15-week ban being proposed in Florida is modeled on the Mississippi law now waiting for a Supreme Court decision.
A Pew Research Center poll of Georgians’ views on abortion shows an almost even split, with 48% saying it should be legal and 49% arguing it should not. But as Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates, told AJC, it’s an election year. “This bill is nothing but performative,” she says, adding, “Abortion has already been decided in this state.”