Mississippi Governor Signs Bill to Ban Mail-Order Abortions

Although it was completely expected, it’s wonderful to hear that Mississippi pro-life Gov. Tate Reeves has signed House Bill 1613. HB 1613 amends the state’s drug trafficking statutes to make it illegal “to create, sell, barter, transfer, manufacture, distribute, dispense or prescribe an ‘abortion-inducing drug.’” HB 1613 passed both the House in February and the […]
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Although it was completely expected, it’s wonderful to hear that Mississippi pro-life Gov. Tate Reeves has signed House Bill 1613.

HB 1613 amends the state’s drug trafficking statutes to make it illegal “to create, sell, barter, transfer, manufacture, distribute, dispense or prescribe an ‘abortion-inducing drug.’”

HB 1613 passed both the House in February and the Senate in March by overwhelming margins

“Penalties for those convicted of a crime include up to ten years in prison,” according to Bridget Sielicki. “Additionally, the legislation allows the Attorney General to bring a civil lawsuit against anyone accused of violating the law” but imposes “no penalties on the mother taking the abortion drug — only those involved in trafficking and distributing.”

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“NRLC commends Governor Reeves and the Mississippi legislature for taking this bold and necessary step to protect both unborn children and women from the dangers of unregulated abortion drugs,” said Ingrid Duran, director of the Department of State Legislation for National Right to Life. “HB 1613 rightly holds traffickers and distributors accountable while making clear that women themselves are not the target of prosecution.”

Mississippi State Rep. Celeste Hurst, who introduced the amendment, told the Mississippi Free Press

that the intention of her amendment is to ensure patient safety by clarifying that it is illegal under state law for doctors to prescribe those medications without an in-person visit from a patient.

“Right now, it’s being mailed out without any doctor oversight and without any age verification whatsoever—they’re not even verifying if the person they’re communicating with via form is a woman,” she told the Mississippi Free Press on Feb. 16.

Hurst made clear that under HB 1613, “If a doctor gave that medication for an abortion, they would be doing a criminal act,” but that “if they prescribed it for something that is not abortion-inducing, then there’s nothing in that law, or in current law, that would prohibit them from doing that.”

State Sen. Daniel Sparks added that “Anyone, male or female, could fill out a form and have that drug shipped to them. A human trafficker could put it in a woman’s hot cocoa.”

Post Dobbs, Mississippi has passed some of the most protective abortion laws in the nation. It is generally considered to be one of the five most pro-life states.

By contrast the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute lists Mississippi in its “most restrictive” category.

LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.