Vermont’s Republican governor on Wednesday signed abortion and transgender shield bills that are the first in the nation to explicitly include protecting access to a drug widely used in abortions, even though the Food and Drug United States administration withdraws its approval of the pill, mifepristone.
The bills protect providers from discipline for providing legally protected reproductive and sex reassignment services.
“Today, we once again reaffirm that Vermont stands on the side of privacy, personal autonomy and reproductive freedom, and that providers are free to practice without fear,” the Republican Governor said. Phil Scott in a statement.
THE VERMONT SENATE, CONTROLLED BY THE DEMOCRATS, TAKES OVER THE GOVERNMENT. PHIL SCOTT’S VETO ON CLEAN HEAT BILL
In identical bills passed by the House and Senate, “reproductive health care services” include “drugs that have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the termination of a pregnancy at effective January 1, 2023, regardless of the drug’s current FDA approval status.” Planned Parenthood thinks other states’ protective laws will cover the issue, but Vermont’s law makes it explicit, according to Lucy Leriche of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
FILE – Vermont Governor Phil Scott delivers his State of the State address remotely from the Pavilion office building, Jan. 5, 2022, in Montpellier. Scott on Wednesday signed into law a bill protecting access to abortion-inducing mifepristone and significantly shielding abortionists and sex reassignment providers from legal scrutiny. (Glenn Russell/VTDigger via AP, pool, file)
Last month, the United States Supreme Court upheld women’s access to drugs, overturning restrictions from lower courts while a trial continues. Judges granted emergency requests from the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, maker of mifepristone, which are appealing a lower court ruling in Texas that would overturn mifepristone’s approval. the FDA. The next stage of the case is for oral arguments in the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, based in New Orleans, on May 17.
VERMONT LEGISLATURE PASSES LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR ABORTION PILLS AND TRANS PROCEDURES
“Unfortunately, we cannot say how these legal protections will actually play out based on what happens in the Fifth Circuit Court, and we will likely appeal this decision no matter what,” said Isabel Guarnieri, of the Guttmacher Institute, which describes itself as a research and policy organization that advances sexual and reproductive health and rights, via email. “All we know is there’s going to be a ton of chaos and confusion.”
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Greer Donley, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and an expert on abortion law, said states cannot authorize federally banned drugs. But that doesn’t mean the federal government would enforce its ban if states went their own way.
