Paxton Sends Cease-and-Desist Letters to Providers Who Ship Abortion Pills to Texas

As Texas’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, ramps up a legal campaign to stop shipment of abortion-inducing medication to the Lone Star State, he has issued cease-and-desist letters to multiple abortion pill providers who say they are undeterred.Mr. Paxton and Texas officials are accusing the organizations of violating state law. He warned that failure to comply with the letters will result in formal investigation and possible future litigation, which could result in a penalty of at least $100,000 per “violation.”The attorney general said in a statement on Wednesday that he sent the cease-and-desist letters last week to three abortion pill providers, including Plan C and Her Safe Harbor, as well as a California-based doctor, Remy Coeytaux. Dr. Coeytaux is named in a wrongful death lawsuit for allegedly mailing the medications to a Texas man accused of secretly slipping the pills into his girlfriend’s drink.Mr. Paxton said, “Texas will not tolerate the murdering of innocent life through illegal drug trafficking.”“These abortion drug organizations and radical activists are not above the law, and I have ordered the immediate end of this unlawful conduct. This is a flagrant violation of both state and federal laws, and we are going to do everything in our power to protect mothers and unborn babies,” he added. One recipient of Mr. Paxton’s letter responded that it will continue to ship medications despite the threats.“Instead of stopping people, Paxton’s intimidation has flooded our phone lines with Texans reaching out for help,” a statement from Her Safe Harbor reads. The group also issued a TikTok of Mr. Paxton’s letter accompanied by a Pat Benatar song, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”“Her Safe Harbor was built for this moment: to provide care with no digital footprint, no trace, no fear,” the statement continues.Mr. Paxton accused the providers of violating the Comstock Act of 1873, which prohibits the mailing of abortion-inducing medication but has not been enforced for decades. Conservatives are hoping that the Supreme Court will rule that the Comstock Act prohibits the interstate shipment of abortion medication. The Biden administration had issued a ruling stating that because some of the medication that induces abortion can have other purposes, the act of mailing the medication alone is an “insufficient basis for concluding that the sender intends them to be used unlawfully.”State officials in Texas and Louisiana are already pursuing civil and criminal penalties against a New York-based doctor, Margaret Carpenter, for allegedly sending abortion medication to the states, which are seen as precursors to federal lawsuits with the goal of getting the Supreme Court to bring an end to the interstate shipment of abortion medication.So far, attempts to force doctors to stop sending the medication have been stymied by so-called shield laws in the states where they reside, which are supposed to protect them from civil or criminal penalties. Officials in New York have declined to honor judgments against Dr. Carpenter, citing the state’s shield law. Shield laws have yet to be tested in court to determine whether they are constitutional, and it is believed that Texas and Louisiana are also hoping their cases will lead the Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter.

Paxton Sends Cease-and-Desist Letters to Providers Who Ship Abortion Pills to Texas

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