S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and so far this year, just one state has enacted a new abortion ban.
Recent state actions include South Dakota, where Governor Larry Rhoden, a Republican, signed a bill last week making it a felony to advertise, distribute, or sell abortion pills. Similar measures have cleared both legislative chambers in Mississippi this year, but the House and Senate need to iron out differences before it can be sent to Republican Governor Tate Reeves. Louisiana has classified mifepristone, one of the abortion drugs, as a controlled dangerous substance.
Legislative efforts are advancing in other states, with bills intended to keep out abortion pills clearing one chamber of the legislature in Arizona, Indiana, and South Carolina this year. Republicans control the legislatures in Arizona, Indiana, and South Carolina, and the governor’s office in two of them, but in Arizona, any restrictions could be vetoed by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs. A Guttmacher Institute survey finds that at least three states—Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas—already have laws that specifically ban providers from mailing abortion pills to patients.
The prescriptions for telehealth pills come from providers in states with laws adopted since the fall of Roe that are intended to protect those who prescribe abortion pills to patients in states with bans. The estimated increase in mailing pills comes as Guttmacher's estimates also suggest fewer women are traveling to states like Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, and New Mexico for abortion. S.
S. Broader context includes multiple states having court challenges to the federal rules that allow the abortion pill mifepristone to be used.