Women living under abortion bans in the US are being given advice about gaining access to abortion pills by mail through a system of mobile billboards that run through college campuses in the 14 states with prohibitions. have been
The billboards are the creation of mayday health, a non-profit founded in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling last June that overturned the constitutional right to abortion. The posters bear QR codes that link to online information and provide step-by-step guides on how to obtain the abortion pill, even in states that have banned it.
“We want everyone to have access to these drugs as easily as you can get Tylenol or Viagra in this country. Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Jennifer Lincoln, president of Mayday, told the Mississippi Public told Broadcasting, referring to generic brands of a pain reliever and erectile dysfunction drug.
Mayday’s bid to help women circumvent strict anti-abortion bans now in 26 states is part of a storm of legal activity surrounding the abortion pill. Lawyers on both sides of the bitter conflict are anxiously awaiting a decision from a federal district judge in Amarillo, Texas, who could move any day now to impose an injunction on mifepristone, the two-drug abortion pill used in the protocol. First bullet to go.
Judge Matthew Kaczmarik, who was appointed by Donald Trump and supports a right-wing Christian ideology, is considering a petition by a coalition of anti-abortion groups to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone 22 years ago. Attempts to revoke approval (FDA). If he enacts the injunction it could block the abortion pill for months or years across the US.
Pushing in the opposite direction, a lawsuit was filed in West Virginia last month by GenBioPro, a US manufacturer of mifepristone, arguing that the FDA’s federal approval of the drug overrides local state restrictions. The outcome of that case could have huge ramifications across the country.
In his advice to women, Meade pointed out that the abortion pill is 99% clinically safe, acting similarly to natural abortion. The Department of Justice advises that receiving by mail is legal in all 50 states, despite local state restrictions.
Some states with Republican-controlled legislatures that have enacted tighter abortion restrictions are seeking to challenge the federal government’s claim. This week a 33-year-old woman was arrested by police in Greenville, South Carolina, and accused of causing or causing an abortion to hospital staff after taking the abortion pill.
The woman is currently out of jail on a $2,500 bond, according to the local state newspaper.
Mayday’s billboard is touring campuses in Jackson, Mississippi; Austin and Dallas in Texas; Boise, Idaho and other anti-abortion states.
Lincoln urged women to obtain the medicine regardless of their personal situation, saying they did not need to wait for a crisis, but should order it now “knowing it is in your back pocket”.