Tennessee to consider bill with $5M penalty for mailing abortion pills into the state

Skip to comments.

Posted on 12/21/2024 1:25:48 AM PST by Morgana

A new bill has been introduced in Tennessee that would hold people or groups who mail abortion pills into the state civilly liable for $5 million.

House Bill 26, or “The Unborn Child Protection Act of 2025,” was introduced by Rep. Gino Bulso as a means of lowering the number of illegal abortions being committed in Tennessee. The $5 million penalty would be wide-ranging, able to apply to individuals and groups alike. Under the bill, manufacturers and distributors of abortion pills, online abortion businesses like Hey Jane and Plan C, abortion industry volunteers, and even friends or family members of the women could all be held liable.

The text of the bill notes that it is a federal crime “to mail abortion pills or to receive abortion pills in the mail. Such conduct is punishable by imprisonment for five years; (4) It is also a federal crime… to transport abortion pills in interstate or foreign commerce…Violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1461–1462 are predicate offenses under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which exposes abortion-pill distribution networks and their donors to civil RICO liability as well as criminal prosecution as a racketeering enterprise….”

The bill’s text makes clear that any “person or entity” mailing or delivering “an abortion inducing drug” into Tennessee will be “strictly liable in the amount of five million dollars in damages for the death of the unborn child.”

The bill also defines what an “abortion inducing drug” is — clarifying that a drug or medication not intended to end a preborn human being’s life (such as misoprostol for “treating a stomach ulcer”) is not considered an “abortion inducing drug” (emphasis added):

As used in this section, “abortion-inducing drug”: (1) Means a drug or medication that is intended to be used, and is used, to terminate the life of an unborn child; (2) Includes mifepristone, misoprostol, mifeprex (RU-486), when possessed or distributed for the purpose of terminating the life of an unborn child; and (3) Does not include a drug or medication that is possessed or distributed for a purpose that does not include the termination of the life of an unborn child, such as misoprostol that is possessed or distributed for the purpose of treating a stomach ulcer.

“I learned that there were some young ladies in Tennessee who had ordered and received abortion pills through the mail,” Bulso told The Tennessean. “I began thinking about what else we might be able to do, both to deter folks from breaking the law and to provide a civil remedy to the family of an unborn child who’s killed because abortion pills were illegally sent into the state.”

Rep. Bulso added, “It’s broader than just exposing manufacturers and distributors to liability. It imposes liability on any person or company who actually sends abortion pills or delivers abortion pills into the state for the purpose of killing an unborn child.”

Elisa Wells, co-founder of Plan C, told the Tennessean that her organization has no intention of obeying if this bill becomes law. “Tennessee House Bill 26 is a desperate political attempt to prevent abortion seekers from accessing abortion pills by mail, which has been proven to be a safe, effective, and common practice throughout the United States,” she said. “No amount of threat or fear will be successful in stopping abortion pills from entering Tennessee by mail.”

Preventing abortion pills from being mailed into pro-life states appears to be the next battleground between pro-life and pro-abortion states. Several pro-abortion states have passed “shield laws,” preventing pro-life states from taking legal action against abortion purveyors in pro-abortion states who violate the laws of pro-life states. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently sued a New York abortionist, Margaret Daley Carpenter, for illegally prescribing and mailing abortion pills to a woman in Texas.

That lawsuit, along with the Tennessee bill, could potentially have huge implications for the trafficking of abortion pills across the country.

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.

Good!

1 posted on 12/21/2024 1:25:48 AM PST by Morgana

To: Morgana

2 posted on 12/21/2024 1:31:37 AM PST by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)

To: ComputerGuy

3 posted on 12/21/2024 1:35:16 AM PST by Morgana ( “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.” — Alice Paul )

To: Morgana

4 posted on 12/21/2024 1:38:17 AM PST by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson