Conservatives Attack Mifepristone, Yet Again

November 13, 2024

Surprise, surprise. Yet again, conservatives are attacking mifepristone. But this time, they’re floating a new, outrageous legal theory against medication abortion.

The theory? Attorneys general from Kansas, Missouri, and Idaho posit that the decreased births from abortion pills cause potential injuries like “losing a seat in Congress or qualifying for less federal funding if their populations are reduced.” In other words, if someone secures an abortion, they might be hurting the state financially. As Jessica Mason Pieklo puts it, these Attorneys General are citing “population interests” as a constitutional cover for conservative eugenics. According to the Attorneys General, the state needs future pregnancies “because without them, their political power will be reduced.”

It’s truly frightening to even consider a state having a constitutional interest in future pregnancies. It’s even more frightening to consider that such an interest would outweigh individuals’ constitutional rights to bodily autonomy. But if you ask the anti-abortion crusaders, they’ll (confoundingly) claim that this is both logical and for the protection of women.

We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation believe in working toward a world where we all have access to our human right to sexual freedom, including our right to choose whether we want to have children. We strongly oppose the attorneys general’s efforts to infringe upon our right even further, and we are appalled at their reasoning for doing so.