US: White House says 'unacceptable' for state officials to target access to federally-approved abortion pills

The White House blasted efforts by state officials to target women’s access to abortion medication that has already been federally approved. This comes as 20 state attorneys general warned pharmacies that they would risk breaking state law if they provided such medication by mail.

Friday last week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized the move by 20 state attorneys general, who warned that pharmacies would risk breaking state laws in providing women with abortion medication by mail. This comes as Walgreens announced the day before that it would not be dispensing the federally–approved medication following the warnings by the 20 state attorneys general.

“Elected officials targeting pharmacies and their ability to provide women with access to safe, effective, and FDA-approved medication is dangerous and just unacceptable,” said Jean-Pierre.

In late February, an appeals court revived a challenge by the anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center to a New York state law that protects workers who make other reproductive decisions or get abortions from retaliation.

A panel of the Manhattan-based 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state law breaches the Evergreen Association Inc.’s constitutional right to freedom of association by forcing the nonprofit that advises patients against getting abortions to employ people who go against its message.

Under the 2019 law, it is illegal to discriminate or retaliate against workers over their “reproductive health decision-making.” The state adopted a similar law in 2018. The nonprofit organization sued in 2020 to block the state from enforcing the law.

The three-member panel, made up of judges appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump, said the company’s “beliefs about the morality of abortion are its defining values; forcing it to accept as members those who engage in or approve of that conduct would cause the group as it currently defines itself to cease to exist.”

The appeals court has since returned the case back to the federal court in Syracuse for further proceedings. The panel, however, affirmed the dismissal of the judge’s ruling of the center’s other claims, such as the law breaches its First Amendment right to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion.