Texas Republicans Wage Total War on Abortion Pills

GOP lawmakers have introduced not one but three bills to push medication abortion—and any information about accessing it—completely out of reach.

By Kylie Cheung | January 13, 2025 | 12:27pm

Photo: Getty Images Abortion Politics

Texas Republicans Wage Total War on Abortion Pills

At the end of last year, we learned that at least three maternal deaths were caused by Texas’ anti-abortion laws. In response, Texas Republicans have introduced not one but three bills to further crack down on abortion across the state. All aim to push medication abortion—and any information about accessing it—entirely out of reach. This comes just weeks after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued a New York-based doctor for allegedly mailing abortion pills to a Texas resident, which is legal thanks to state shield laws. The Texas GOP is, in effect, opening 2025 by waging a total war on abortion pills.

The bills filed this session are HB 1339, HB 1651, and HB 991. Modeled after a law in Louisiana, HB 1339 reclassifies the most common abortion pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, as “controlled substances.” Under the Texas Controlled Substances Act, possession of some controlled substances is punishable with prison time. Louisiana’s law has already reaped havoc on the state’s hospital system, as misoprostol is essential to save lives during postpartum hemorrhaging.

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Texas’ HB 1651 then goes further, proposing to classify medication abortion sent through mail without an in-state prescription as an illegal, deceptive trade practice. Those in violation could face “a state jail felony,” the bill states. HB 1339, meanwhile, allows Texans to file lawsuits against websites that offer information on how to obtain an abortion elsewhere or have medication abortion shipped to them. The bill names abortion funds and websites like Plan C Pills, Aid Access, and Hey Jane, which help people get medication abortion by mail, as examples.

HB 1339, laughably named the “Women and Child Safety Act,” has similarities to the bipartisan, federal KOSA (the Kids Online Safety Act), which was introduced, on its face, to protect children on the internet from explicit or dangerous content. But legal experts have been sounding the alarm that the law could instead be wielded by anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ state attorneys general to block essential online information about abortion or gender-affirming care—not just for children, but for all of us.

As the Texas GOP does its part to erode our reproductive rights, Paxton is waging the country’s first legal war against shield laws. States like New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, Vermont, New York, and California have legislation that protects doctors and health providers who prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that ban abortion from facing criminal charges and legal repercussions. Pending the outcome of Paxton’s aforementioned lawsuit against a New York doctor, these states may need to revisit and strengthen their protections. Meanwhile, in Tennessee, GOP legislators introduced a bill in December to punish people from out-of-state who mail abortion pills into the state with a $5 million fine. And on the federal level, the incoming Trump administration is expected to crack down on access to abortion pills in all 50 states, too.

In September, researchers published chilling new data about rising maternal mortality in Texas linked to the six-week ban the state enacted in September 2021. Seemingly in response, state health officials announced in November that no maternal mortality data from 2022 to 2023. Texas anti-abortion leaders don’t see rising maternal mortality and abortion ban-related deaths as the problem, but rather, the public finding out about these crises.

Texas’ new trifecta of anti-abortion bills are a harsh reminder that anti-abortion leaders are no longer just trying to ban abortion in their states—they’re trying to trap people under their laws, and even stop people from accessing essential medical information on their own computers.