A key step in religious-right efforts to eliminate access to legal abortion nationwide is banning distribution of abortion medication by mail, which has provided an option for women living in states that have criminalized abortion.
This week the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins and other self-described “spiritual overseers and pro-life leaders” sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to stop mail-order distribution of mifepristone, which is now used in the majority of abortions in the U.S.
The July 28 letter from more than three dozen Southern Baptist leaders complains about shield laws in pro-choice states that protect doctors who send medication to people in states like Louisiana and Texas. (New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has rejected an extradition request from Louisiana targeting a doctor in New York.)
On July 29, 16 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to congressional leaders attacking state shield laws as “antithetical to the spirit of federalism” and the Supreme Court’s Dodd decision, in which the right-wing majority overturned Roe v. Wade. The letter urges Congress “to consider taking action preempting abortion shield laws.”
Perkins has devoted multiple segments of his Washington Watch podcast to the issue.
On Wednesday, Perkins interviewed Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who recently urged the FDA to review its approval of mifepristone. Perkins complained that the Trump Justice Department has not used the Comstock Act—an 1873 law protecting “sexual purity” and targeting obscenity—to ban mailing of abortion medication—something that was called for by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
Perkins is also urging the Trump FDA to roll back Biden-era regulations that removed obstacles to people seeking mifepristone.
The day before, Perkins spoke with state Rep. Julie Emerson from his home state of Louisiana, which had a trigger law in place to ban abortion as soon as Roe was overturned. Emerson described state legislation to create civil as well as criminal penalties for out-of-state doctors who send medication to women in Louisiana.
Perkins complained loudly when Trump’s allies at the Republican National Committee used heavy-handed tactics to strip a long-standing call for a federal abortion ban from the GOP’s 2024 platform.
