Newly Confirmed AG Pam Bondi Makes Ominous Comment About Abortion Pills

Louisiana recently indicted a New York doctor for mailing abortion pills to a mother and her teen daughter. Now, Louisiana wants the Justice Department’s help.

By Kylie Cheung | February 11, 2025 | 1:24pm

Photo: Getty Images Abortion Politics

Newly Confirmed AG Pam Bondi Makes Ominous Comment About Abortion Pills

On February 4, the Senate confirmed anti-abortion extremist and Florida woman Pam Bondi as attorney general. Bondi, who served as Florida AG from 2011 to 2019, spent her tenure defending a range of anti-abortion laws in the state, including mandatory waiting periods for care and attacks on abortion-seeking minors. So, you’ll be happy to hear that senators neglected to ask her anything about her positions on reproductive rights. Now, she’s seemingly colluding with anti-abortion states to get the ball rolling on banning abortion pills nationwide.

Last week, the newly sworn-in attorney general met with Louisiana law enforcement officials seeking help in their criminal case against a New York doctor who allegedly mailed abortion pills to a Louisiana mother and her teen daughter. The state is effectively seeking to challenge shield laws in New York, which protect doctors who provide abortion care to patients from abortion-banned states—for example, by mailing abortion pills to them. Louisiana is trying to make an example out of Carpenter, and potentially bring forth a legal challenge that could throw out shield laws. Law enforcement also brought charges against the mother, who could face between one and five years in prison.

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Among those Bondi met with were Tony Clayton, the West Baton Rouge-area district attorney who obtained the charges, as well as Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R), Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R), and other local district attorneys involved in the case. “We’re gonna need your help. I would like to see some consistency around the country that states just can’t harbor fugitives away from folks down here in Louisiana,” Clayton told Bondi in front of reporters before they moved their meeting behind closed doors. Bondi replied, “I would love to work with you.”

Clayton later told nola.com that he’s “excited about what [Bondi is] about to do” as AG, but didn’t provide any more details about what they discussed. Of course, we kind of already know: Project 2025, which is proving to be the blueprint for the Trump presidency, outlines how the Justice Department can effectively ban the mailing of abortion pills by enforcing the dormant Comstock Act of 1873, a law that prohibits shipment of “obscene” materials across state lines. When Clayton asked Bondi to impose “consistent” policies around abortion pills, he may have well just asked what date she’d officially declare Comstock the law of the land.

In January, top anti-abortion leaders explicitly asked the DOJ to start enforcing the Comstock Act. And advocates warn that Bondi’s meeting with anti-abortion extremists in Louisiana could be a first step toward this. “The administration doesn’t have to pass or sign a national abortion ban to massively curtail access,” Elizabeth Ling, senior helpline counsel at the reproductive justice organization If/When/How, told Jezebel. “People are scared, and these threats from the government and state officials are only creating additional misinformation and fear. And that’s the point. To keep us scared and in the dark.”

Bondi’s meeting in Louisiana comes as anti-abortion officials are increasingly trying to challenge shield laws and trap their residents under abortion bans. In December, Texas also sued Carpenter for allegedly mailing abortion pills to a Dallas woman. (Texas’ is a civil case that doesn’t involve criminal charges.) In an effort to keep targeting out-of-state, telemedicine abortion providers, Texas’ attorney general, as well as Texas Right to Life, are reportedly recruiting men to snitch on their partners.

Back in Louisiana, officials claim—without evidence—that the mother “coerced” her daughter to take the pills. Anti-abortion leaders have increasingly resorted to this language to justify a range of restrictions, particularly targeting abortion pills. In 2024, the Louisiana legislature passed a law to criminalize possession of the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol by citing the tragic case of a man feeding his pregnant wife abortion pills without her consent, to justify stripping medication abortion access for all of us.

Bondi and the Trump administration have yet to issue new policies on medication abortion. But within just three weeks, Trump already pardoned violent anti-abortion activists, relaxed protections for clinics against violence, and wiped abortion-related information from federal websites. (Another fun fact about Bondi and Trump: Bondi famously declined to investigate Trump’s notoriously fraudulent Trump University while she served as state attorney general—after her campaign got a $25,000 donation from his foundation.)

In November, Plan C Pills reported a surge in visits to their website, and urged individuals to buy abortion pills in advance of the Trump presidency: “While he flip-flopped a lot with his words, Project 2025 is very clear about wanting to restrict access to abortion pills by mail and more generally,” Plan C Pills co-founder Elisa Wells told Jezebel at the time. “So, we fully anticipate that much of what’s in [Project 2025] will be implemented, and we advise people to be prepared.”