Vowing to uphold the rule of law, Republican Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves warned physicians that they could lose their medical licenses if they prescribed abortion pills.
Reeves made the comment during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
The governor said: “If a physician is practicing medicine in the state of Mississippi, they have to have a license to do so and if abortion is illegal in our state, which it is, then those medicines will not be allowed and they will not have a license to practice in our state.”
To avoid ambiguity, Reeves added: “Any physician that is practicing, whether it’s through telemedicine or otherwise… that practices in our state is practicing not only based upon the standards of care that we require in our state, but also based upon state law.”
Mississippi feels emboldened to impose restrictions on abortion-related services following the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade and remand the issue back to each state.
Reeves warned that “if a physician is attempting to practice medicine in the state of Mississippi and they are violating our law, then our state board of medical licensure will pull the license from them.”
Reeves also noted that an “exception for rape” bill would not likely make its way through the legislature in its current form:
“I don’t believe that an exception for rape will make it through the Mississippi legislature and make it to my desk,” Reeves said.
The Daily Wire noted that other states had adopted similar legislation. Recently, Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed Senate Bill 388, criminalizing the mailing or use of abortion pills in his state.
Those who violate SB 388 could face a $1,000 fine and a maximum of six months in prison.
The bill, which takes effect August 1, “prohibit[s] criminal abortion by means of the use of an abortion-inducing drug without the prescribing physician being physically present during the administration of the drug.”
Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed a similar bill in March.
South Dakota’s HB 1318 “prohibit[s] medical abortion by telemedicine and … increase the penalty for the unlicensed practice of medicine when performing a medical abortion.”
The Daily Wire reports that HB 1318 “will require mifepristone and misoprostol to be dispensed from licensed physicians and prohibit obtaining the drugs online or by mail for the purposes of a chemical abortion.”
The outlet also noted the “Guttmacher Institute reported that medication abortion accounted for 54% of US abortions by 2020.”
States that are moving to enact pro-life legislation are in the minority. DNYUZ News reports that 16 states have already put in place pro-choice legislation.
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