Biden Administration May End Safety Regulations on RU-486

Abortion, ,

Last week the Biden Administration quietly signaled that it may end some of the safety restrictions on the RU-486 chemical abortion drug.

The announcement came via a court filing from the ACLU.

In the filing, the Biden Administration’s Food and Drug Administration indicated it is reviewing whether or not current restrictions on RU-486 are still necessary.

In a press release, the ACLU called the safety restrictions “outdated” and and said the administration needed “to take immediate action to expand access to medication abortion.”

Already this year, the Biden Administration has waived certain safety protocols for RU-486 in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The truth is RU-486 is a dangerous drug that kills unborn children and carries significant health risks for women.

Fortunately, the Arkansas Legislature has passed several good, pro-life laws this year — such as Act 562 by Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover) and Sen. Blake Johnson (R – Corning).

Act 562 updates Arkansas’ restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs like RU-486.

Among other things, it outlines requirements that abortionists must follow in administering abortion-inducing drugs, and it prohibits abortion drugs from being delivered by mail in Arkansas.

This will help maintain strong restrictions on RU-486 in Arkansas — even if the Biden Administration eliminates some of the federal safety regulations for chemical abortion.

All of this underscores why it is so important to pass good, pro-life legislation at the state level to protect unborn children from abortion, no matter what the federal government does.

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22 States Sign Brief Supporting Arkansas’ Ban on Down Syndrome Abortions

Abortion,

On Thursday, 22 state attorneys general signed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Arkansas’ law that bans abortions performed because the unborn child may have Down Syndrome.

In 2019 the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 619 prohibiting abortion of an unborn baby solely because the child has Down Syndrome.

At the time, Family Council estimated that Act 619 could save upwards of 100 unborn children in Arkansas every single year.

In response, the ACLU and the state’s only surgical abortion facility sued the State of Arkansas to have the law struck down. Federal courts subsequently blocked Arkansas from enforcing the law.

Even though a three-judge panel from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law should remain blocked, two of the judges asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review its precedent on pro-life laws that protect unborn children — like those who may have Down Syndrome — from abortion.

In April Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the nation’s highest court to take up the case.

Now 22 other states have joined the fight to support this good law. The states are:

  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Idaho
  • Indiana
  • Kansas
  • Missouri
  • Nebraska
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Louisiana
  • Mississippi
  • Montana
  • Utah
  • West Virginia

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch writes that Arkansas’ law advances at least eight compelling state interests:

  • Protecting the entire class of persons with Down Syndrome from being targeted for elimination solely because of disability;
  • Eradicating historical animus and bias against persons with Down Syndrome;
  • Safeguarding the integrity of the medical profession by preventing doctors from abandoning their traditional role as healers to become the killers of disabled populations;
  • Drawing a clear boundary against additional eugenic practices targeted at disabled persons and others;
  • Countering the stigma that eugenic abortion currently imposes on persons with disabilities;
  • Ensuring that the existing Down Syndrome community does not become starved of resources for research and care for individuals with Down Syndrome;
  • Protecting against the devaluation of all human life inherent in any decision to target a person for elimination based on an immutable characteristic; and
  • Fostering the diversity of society and protecting society from the incalculable loss that would occur if people with Down Syndrome were eliminated.

Many people are closely watching this court case, because it has the potential to reshape how federal judges treat state abortion laws. It could give the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to reverse or amend past rulings like Planned Parenthood v. Casey or June Medical Services v. Russo.

This is an opportunity for Arkansas Attorney General Rutledge and her team to win a big, pro-life victory in court that could help save the lives of unborn children in Arkansas and across the nation.

You can download the brief here.

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Biden’s HHS Secretary Says Federal Law Doesn’t Ban Partial-Birth Abortion

Current Events
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra

On Wednesday President Biden’s federal Health and Human Services Secretary, Xavier Becerra, reportedly told members of congress, “There is no law that deals specifically with the term partial-birth abortion. We have clear precedent in the law on the rights that women have to reproductive health care, and we will follow the law and protect the rights of all Americans to their healthcare”

In 2003 President George W. Bush signed the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

The law specifically prohibits partial-birth abortion under federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law as constitutional in 2007.

However, Secretary Becerra claims that federal law does not specifically address partial-birth abortion.

Arkansas’ U.S. Senator Tom Cotton was quick to condemn Becerra’s comments, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation, “It’s no surprise that a pro-abortion radical like Xavier Becerra is trying to ignore the law banning partial-birth abortion—he voted against it when he was a congressman. . . . Becerra is an officer of the United States government. He doesn’t get to pick and choose which laws to enforce and which to ignore.”

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge also released a statement on Twitter, saying,

The Biden administration and Biden’s HHS Secretary are planting their first step in trying to make Partial Birth Abortions legal. As someone who helped pioneer Arkansas as the most pro-life state in the country, I won’t stand for it!

All of this underscores why it’s so important for states like Arkansas to keep passing good, pro-life laws.

In 2009 the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 196, The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Act 196 is similar to the federal law congress passed in 2003. It prohibits partial-birth abortion in Arkansas.

Even if the federal ban on partial-birth abortion went away, Arkansas’ law would remain in place, protecting unborn children from abortion.

Back in 2009 some people questioned why Arkansas needed to pass Act 196 if congress had already prohibited partial-birth abortion. But Secretary Becerra’s latest comments show why we should pass pro-life legislation at the state level as well as the federal level.

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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