Senate takes up bill to ban mail-order abortion medications
The Judiciary Committee hashed over SB 85 for a couple hours on Thursday, and it saw its first reading on the Senate floor on Saturday.
Lead sponsor Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, serves on Judiciary and told her colleagues the intent of the bill: to stop abortifacients being brought into the state to perform illegal abortions.
An abortifacient, the bill says, is any chemical or drug prescribed or dispensed with the intent of causing an abortion. It prohibits sending the abortifacient by courier, delivery or mail service to someone in West Virginia, or placing the abortifacient in the stream of commerce.
Anyone other than a licensed medical professional who violates this ban would be subject to felony imprisonment for three to 10 years. A medical professional would be subject to loss of license. The bill contains exceptions for physicians and pharmacists engaged in legal activity.
Much of the discussion revolved around lack of clarity in the bill. How would manufacturers and other businesses in the supply chain know if the drug was being used for an abortion or for a legitimate purpose under West Virginia law ? How would the state enforce the law on an out-of-state business or provider ?
Rucker cited the example of plancpills.org, where a person can go online and obtain abortion pills via website or online clinic. There's no review of the woman's medical history or conditions, and no discussion of the risks. "What I'm concerned abut is ensuring that this stops, " she said.
Kelly Lemon, a nurse midwife and women's health nurse practitioner, testified against the bill.
There are two medications, known together as the abortion pill, used for abortions. One is mifepristone, that blocks the woman's progesterone, stopping the unborn baby from growing. Then the woman takes misoprostol, which causes cramping and bleeding to empty the uterus.
Lemon said misoprostol has other medical uses, including treating postpartum hemorrhaging and preventing sepsis following a miscarriage. The bill could have the unintended consequence of blocking access to legitimate uses apart from abortions.
Kristan Hawkins, president of the pro-life Students for Life Action, testified for the bill. She also mentioned the Plan C website and the questionable process of obtaining medications.
She talked about its questionable presciption and delivery process. While a provider supposedly reviews a request, the order is immediately sent to the checkout page and is shipped the next day. There's no way of knowing if it was really reviewed by a doctor.
She cited the case of a Louisiana mother and an New York doctor indicted for providing an abortifacient to the woman's daughter — who didn't want an abortion. But New York's governor cited the state's shield laws as protecting the doctor from prosecution, and the county clerk where the doctor is refusing to file the judgment — more than $100, 000 — against the doctor, according to news reports.
While this case will stir more litigation, she said, civil causes of action and penalties could give abortifacient laws some teeth. (The original version of SB 85 permitted civil actions by the mother, but it was removed from the version the committee approved and the reason for that was never discussed.)
Hawkins cited research indicating mifepristone can cause injury, infertility and death, is dangerous for ectopic pregnancies and remains active when it goes into wastewater systems following the abortion.
By Dr. Nicole Perry Bryce, a Charleston obstetrician and gynecologist, speaking for the West Virginia chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said mifepristone is safer than Tylenol.
The FDA provides guidelines for prescribing and shipping abortifacients, she said, and providers should be free to make evidence-based decisions and guide their patients.
The committee amended some of the bill's flaws, but rejected one intended to clarify the shipping question. Rucker said it still needs work. They approved it in a voice vote, with Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, providing the sole vote against.
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