Lawmakers in some states where abortion is already banned are seeking to explicitly bar abortion pills or take a step that most leading anti-abortion groups oppose: punish women who seek to end their pregnancies.
Authorities in two states with stringent abortion laws have targeted a New York doctor for allegedly sending abortion pills to patients in those states.
The legal actions set up a test of laws in some Democratic-controlled states, including New York, that seek to protect health care providers who use telehealth to prescribe and then mail abortion pills to patients in states where they're banned.
Reached by phone, South Carolina Rep. Luke Rankin, a Republican who added his name to a list of bill sponsors last week, said, “I've always been pro-life.” When asked about the provision to allow prosecution of women seeking abortion, he said: “I can't help you there” and declined to answer questions.
Lawmakers in several states have introduced measures to classify the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol — which are used together in the majority of U.S. abortions — as controlled dangerous substances, making it a crime to possess them without prescriptions.
