Editor's note: This piece was co-authored by Kristan Hawkins.
The recent fight between Louisiana, a pro-life state, and New York, America’s abortion capital, started with a pregnant, underage girl in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Any excitement she may have had planning her baby’s gender reveal party disappeared as the savage pain set in from the Chemical Abortion Pills her mom reportedly forced on her. She called 911 and was rushed to the emergency room.
The girl’s mother allegedly plotted her grandchild’s death by ordering out-of-state mail-in Chemical Abortion Pills she bought online with the help of a New York abortionist. This story set the media ablaze, creating more momentum for pro-life lawmakers to introduce similar legislation, Louisiana’s The Catherine and Josephine Herring Act SB276. This groundbreaking Louisiana law labeled this “medication” for what it is: a controlled substance and deadly pill cocktail. Louisiana’s bold action, with Texas following suit in November, represents states’ responses to a crisis – the need to keep women safe from out-of-state and online Chemical Abortion Pill traffickers.
My home state, West Virginia, is in the running to be one of the first states to drive this anti-pill trafficking legislation across the finish line, setting a new standard as we enter this new golden era in our nation of opportunity to protect life.
They are trailblazing a new frontier for the preborn, not only working to strip out outdated exceptions of who deserves to live or die but also pushing for anti-pill trafficking efforts.
Currently, anti-pill trafficking bills have been introduced in Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, and last year in Florida. But Republican leaders have often shied away from protecting preborn babies out of fear of backlash from the left. This story from Louisiana, while tragic, has inspired West Virginia lawmakers to introduce the Unborn Child Protection Act, HB 2461 in the House and SB 85 in the Senate, to prevent this from happening in their state.
Fighting to end Chemical Abortion Pill trafficking is not just a West Virginia issue; it’s also a federal issue. Despite what President Donald Trump says, abortion isn’t confined to the states, and the federal GOP has what it takes to step up to the plate.
Early this year, newly elected Rep. Mark Harris introduced the Teleabortion Prevention Act along with nine co-sponsors, making it a federal offense for doctors to send abortion pills through the mail. Several Members of Congress already support anti-pill trafficking efforts, giving West Virginia the coverage it needs to continue to push to protect citizens from these deadly pills.
Even with this spark of hope from recent federal action, preventing the trafficking of Chemical Abortion Pills into West Virginia will not be easy. Abortion pill pushers are aggressively fighting for the free-range distribution of Chemical Abortion Pills and are carelessly exposing women and girls to injury, infertility, and death.
More than six in 10 abortions committed by women are by chemical abortion as reported by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.
Every day, women, so-called “doctors,” and men use these pills to kill tiny humans.
West Virginia lawmakers have had enough and are leading the charge for life, battling to protect the right to life of every preborn child in their state without exceptions. But protection without exception is not enough, not with Abortion Pill Pushers violating the Comstock Act and shipping lethal Chemical Abortion Pills.
West Virginia lawmakers must be unified in working together to prohibit death-on-demand vendors like Planned Parenthood. Prohibiting the use and sale of Chemical Abortion Pills in West Virginia would protect innocent babies in the womb from abortion violence.
Voters appreciate these efforts. In January, Students for Life and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement’s released a YouGov/Survey USA poll of registered Gen Z and Gen Y voters. Almost half of the electorate supported health & safety standards for Chemical Abortion Pills, all dropped in rush to push deadly abortions. And more than half (52%) said they viewed a legislator favorably when the official protected people and the environment from the negative impacts of abortion.
Pro-life legislators in Louisiana and Texas walked so West Virginia and any other states can follow in their footsteps. Now’s not the time for pro-life politicians in West Virginia to give up. It’s time to press in and push forward anti-trafficking pill legislation across the finish line, protecting humans from barbaric and brutal chemical death by abortion as well as protecting women and girls from being targeted.
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