Blanche Pledges To Make Post-Dobbs Abortion Restrictions ‘Permanent’ in ‘Every Single State’

Acting attorney general Todd Blanche — who is likely to be confirmed as attorney general this week — is promising anti-abortion rights groups to make post-Dobbs abortion restrictions “permanent” in “every state.” The Justice Department is expected to take action to crack down on the use of the medication abortion pills, which are used in nearly two-thirds of abortions nationwide. Mr. Blanche faced a rocky road to confirmation after two Republican senators refused to back him until he permanently closed the door on President Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund.” Now, he appears to be on a glide path to confirmation after those senators won a written guarantee that the fund was, in fact, dead. Some senators opposed to abortion rights wanted to ensure Mr. Blanche would do all he could to crack down on medication abortion, as well. They wanted a guarantee that red states’ laws passed after the Dobbs decision — which overturned Roe v. Wade and declared that abortion is not a constitutionally protected right — would be respected. Speaking to a group opposed to abortion rights on a call organized by the White House Faith Office, Mr. Blanche said the DOJ was working on new measures to restrict access to medication abortion, which has grown increasingly popular as red states institute strict abortion bans. Mr. Blanche’s comments were first reported by Politico. “We don’t have complete victory yet, but we will have victory, and victory will be soon, and and and it will be permanent,” Mr. Blanche said. The likely soon-to-be attorney general said the DOJ is “working hand in hand” with the rest of the Trump administration “so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.”He specifically mentioned blue state laws that protect abortion providers from legal repercussions in other states with abortion restrictions. Those laws protecting doctors are known as “shield laws.” There are currently 18 states that have shield laws in place. “If states have said, ‘We are going to protect the unborn and we’re going to protect every life from the moment of conception,’ we’re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can’t attack that,” Mr. Blanche told the call’s participants. “They can’t do things like they’re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs.”Arguably the most famous case involving shield laws was back in 2025 when New York refused to enforce Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against an Empire State doctor who had been prescribing mail abortion medication to Texas patients. During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Blanche was pressed by multiple GOP senators about his commitment to crack down on the use of mail medication abortion. He said at the time that he would be working on that issue in conjunction with other agencies. “It’s not only what the Department of Justice can do, but it’s what the FDA is doing right now — for the first time in a decade — actually doing real studies about the safety and the appropriateness of these drugs,” Mr. Blanche said after being questioned about the issue by Senator Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican. “I very much commit our resources to stopping this.”Mr. Blanche also did not shut the door on using the Comstock Act — a 19th century anti-obscenity law — to bar the mailing of abortion drugs. When asked by Senator Ted Cruz about such a step, Mr. Blanche said the administration is looking at all possible avenues to decrease the number of medication abortions across the country.

Blanche Pledges To Make Post-Dobbs Abortion Restrictions ‘Permanent’ in ‘Every Single State’

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