On Wednesday the pro-abortion organization Society of Family Planning released a report indicating that Arkansas has successfully stopped abortion and prevented doctors from prescribing abortion pills via telemedicine since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. However, the report also highlights how so-called “shield laws” help abortionists in other states perform abortions on women from states like Arkansas.
The Society of Family Planning describes itself as “the source for abortion and contraception science,” and says it believes “in just and equitable abortion and contraception informed by science.”
The group’s report released Wednesday analyzed telemed abortions — in which abortionists prescribe abortion drugs electronically rather than at an in-person examination.
The report also discussed pro-abortion “shield laws” that protect abortionists who authorize abortions via telemedicine on women living in states that restrict or prohibit abortion.
Overall, the report found telemed abortions have increased across America — estimating that one in five abortions in America is now performed via telemedicine.
The data in the report shows that prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, Arkansas averaged around 315 abortions per month. Since then, Arkansas has successfully prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother, and the report indicates that no abortions have occurred in Arkansas as a result.
However, the report also reveals that thousands of telemed abortions have occurred in recent months in states with “shield laws” that protect abortionists. Those shield laws could protect an abortionist in a state like Maine or New York who performs an abortion on a woman from a state like Arkansas or Louisiana.
NPR reports that abortionists in Massachusetts are taking advantage of the state’s “shield law” to ship abortion drugs across state lines. In Massachusetts’ case, the shield law protects the abortionist from civil or criminal liability and from being extradited to the state where the abortion drugs were mailed.
Abortion drugs take the life of an unborn child. They also carry significant health risks for women — including risks of sepsis and death. In some cases, abortion drugs actually can be more dangerous that surgical abortion procedures.
Arkansas has prohibited telemed abortions for quite some time, and it is against the law to deliver abortion drugs by mail in Arkansas.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has even taken steps to stop abortionists from promoting abortion drugs in Arkansas as well.
However, it may be difficult to enforce good laws like these in the future if other states use “shield laws” to give special protections to abortionists.
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, we said the decision marked a turning point for the pro-life movement. Going forward, pro-lifers would need to shift our focus from making abortion illegal to making abortion irrelevant and unthinkable as well. This latest abortion data shows that is still the case. If abortionists in other states are in fact performing abortions on women from Arkansas, then pro-lifers still have work to do.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
