Senate passes bill banning mail-order abortion drugs

ATLANTA — Women in Georgia would be prohibited from obtaining abortion-inducing drugs through the mail without seeing a doctor under legislation that cleared the state Senate Tuesday.

The bill, which passed 31-22 and now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives, targets providing such drugs through telemedicine, a practice the Biden administration authorized last year as a pandemic measure.

“Telemedicine may be appropriate in certain instances but not when it places a patient in grave danger,” Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, the bill’s chief sponsor, said. “This bill is about assuring powerful drugs such as these are prescribed as intended.”

But Senate Democrats accused the bill’s Republican backers of trying to make abortions more difficult to get — particularly for low-income women in rural communities — rather than protecting women.

Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain, said telemedicine is a critical option in a state where half of the 159 counties don’t have an ob-gyn.

“This bill is really about access to health care,” she said. “Without access, there can be no equity in health care.”

Other Democrats said abortion-inducing drugs have been thoroughly studied and proven safe.

But Thompson said some women have died after taking abortion-inducing drugs without the supervision of a qualified physician.

“This bill’s about protecting women,” he said. “It’s about the health and safety of women.”

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