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February 14, 2024

Legislation Alert: Mississippi Introduces Anti-Abortion Trafficking and Anti-Chemical Abortion Bills

 

Mississippi become of the first states to write near total abortion restrictions into law, shortly after the Dobbs decision in June 2022. Two SFLAction-inspired bills recently introduced by state Representative Dan Eubanks (R-Walls), House Bill 713 and House Bill 735, will, if signed into law, tighten up and improve upon the protections Mississippi has in place for preborn life. These bills specifically target those individuals who would bring minors out of state for an abortion, and those who would bring deadly chemical abortion drugs into the state from states like New York and California. 

According to the news report from the Mississippi Free press: “Abortions in Mississippi are illegal at all stages, with an exception for cases of rape until fetal cardiac activity becomes detectable (around six weeks gestation) and [an] exception for cases in which a pregnant person’s life is at risk.” 

Here’s what you need to know about House Bill 713 and House Bill 735, both of which Students for Life Action (SFLAction) support. 

 

What’s at Stake: 

Under current state law, adults face few consequences for transporting other people’s minor children out of state to get an abortion without parental permission. According to the most recent available data from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, nearly one in five abortion seeking women are traveling out of state. 

Additionally, like many other states, chemical abortion pills are being illegally mailed into the state from out of state, despite the state‘s life saving pro-life laws abortion.  

During the COVID crisis, the Biden Administration abused their control of the FDA to set up No Test, Online Distribution of Chemical Abortion Pills that expose women to injury, infertility, death, and abusers, as well as creating potential environmental harms. This method of delivery also outsources all the risk of abortion complications to young women, as the abortion pill pushers can sell a few pills and walk away from what happens next.   

According to the most recent data from the abortion industry’s own sources, Chemical Abortion Pills make up more than half of intentional abortions. Additionally, The pills cause four times the complications as surgical abortion, with a risk of death that is ten times higher,according to a National Institute of Health Study.  

 

Learn more about the public health crisis being caused by Chemical Abortion Pills at: THIS IS CHEMICAL ABORTION 

What The Legislation Does: 

House Bill 713  

  • “An act to create the crime of abortion trafficking; to prohibit any person from transporting a pregnant, unemancipated minor across state lines for an abortion with the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian.” 
  • According to the key points of the bill, the law would fine or jail anyone who “to conceal an abortion from the parents or guardian of a pregnant, unemancipated minor” by helping the child obtain an abortion or “abortion-inducing drug” would be committing the crime of “abortion trafficking.” 
  • The law would not make it illegal for parents or guardians to take their child to get an abortion. 

House Bill 735 

  •  “An Act to… prohibit the manufacturer or mail or mail order in this state of medicines that cause any abortion that is prohibited by the laws of this state and for related purposes.”  
  • According to the key points of the bill, the law would fine or jail anyone who “manufactures, markets, mails, distributes, transports, delivers … any instrument or article, or any drug or medicine, for causing an abortion that is prohibited in this state”  
  • Advertisers who push abortion-causing medicines or devices could also be charged under this law. 

 

What We Have Said About the Issue: 

SFLAction has been proud to support legislation aimed at stopping human trafficking of all kinds, and protecting young children including:  

READ: The Pro-Life Generation Opposes Human Trafficking and the Media Can’t Wrap Their Heads Around It 

SFLAction has also been actively campaigning for restrictions on Chemical Abortion Pills in many states and at the Federal level, including:  

  • The Ending Chemical Abortion Act by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN).   
  • Senate Bill 217, by Indiana State Senator Mike Young 
  • SF 109, “Prohibiting Chemical Abortions,” first introduced by Wyoming State Senator Tim Salaza, and signed into law in March 2023. 
  • House Bill 1519, introduced by Florida State Rep. David Borrero. 
  • Launched and education campaign to show people dangers of Chemical Abortion Pills, called THIS IS CHEMICAL ABORTION. 
  • Penned an op-ed in Newsweek along with two state legislators, titled Stop Dumping Medical Waste, detailing some legislative solutions underway.  
  • Wrote another op-ed in The National Review illustrating the risks from Chemical Abortion Pills, including injury, infertility, and even death to women as well as to the preborn.   
  • Launched a campaign entitled “What’s in The Water”, which aims to conduct an Environmental Assessment of the impact of Chemical Abortion Pills along with tainted blood, tissue, and human remains in America’s wastewater system.  
  • Submitted Citizen Petitions to the FDA calling for:    
    • Adding Red Bag Medical Waste requirements to reduce the pollution from Chemical Abortion Pills;  
    • Restoring high health and safety standards (known as REMS – Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies) to protect women’s lives;  
    • Completing studies and ensuring protections for endangered species; and now,  
    • Requiring Protections for Water, especially recreational water, in compliance with the Clean Water Act.  
  • Conducted polling on the issue which found: “Almost 7 in 10 Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to support a candidate who supports laws that require in-person medical care and testing before and after the sale of dangerous Chemical Abortion Pills” 

Stay tuned to this blog for future updates, as we track the progress of this legislation.  

 

To learn more about other legislation moving through Congress that SFLAction supports, CLICK HERE.