{"id":290877,"date":"2023-05-12T18:40:37","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T23:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=290877"},"modified":"2023-05-12T21:19:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T02:19:47","slug":"vermont-governor-first-nation-abortion-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/vermont-governor-first-nation-abortion-pill\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermont governor signs first-in-nation law to protect abortion pill"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Vermont’s Republican Governor Phil Scott signed<\/a> a first-in-the-nation pro-abortion bill on Wednesday that will protect access to the abortion pill mifepristone regardless of whether or not the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the drug is revoked.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we reaffirm once again that Vermont stands on the side of privacy, personal autonomy and reproductive liberty, and that providers are free to practice without fear,\u201d Scott said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Two identical bills from the Vermont\u00a0Senate<\/a> and the House<\/a> state that “reproductive health care services” include “medication that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for termination of a pregnancy as of January 1, 2023, regardless of the medication’s current FDA approval status.” The bills\u00a0protect<\/a> abortionists from out-of-state subpoenas and summons for abortions that are legal in Vermont but were carried out on women from states where abortion is restricted. The bills also prevent the abortionists from being extradited to a different state.<\/p>\n

In addition to protecting abortion access, Gov. Scott also signed a bill protecting “gender-affirming” health care services in the state.<\/p>\n

Mary Hahn Beerworth, executive director of Vermont Right to Life, told Live Action News:<\/p>\n

These bills are dangerous for the whole country. What they are trying to do, they said so in committee, is attract young people to colleges here because they can thwart their parents and have gender-transitioning ‘health care’ and abortions without anybody knowing about it. The law shields the providers of both of those [abortion and cross-sex hormones] \u2014 and of course the providers are Planned Parenthood. They are big time in the business of those hormones for transitioning. <\/em><\/p>\n

So they come into the State House, they draft a bill and both bills they worked on to increase their business, and that’s after decades of dropping the abortion numbers here in Vermont.<\/em><\/p>\n

Vermont state Senator Virginia Lyons said that even if the FDA is forced to withdraw its approval for mifepristone, the drug can still be manufactured.\u00a0\u201cBut production can still take place and they can be purchased for use by pharmacists or providers. So it\u2019s still available but what this does is it says, with or without FDA approval, this drug is available to folks in the state of Vermont. And that\u2019s a big deal,\u201d Lyons\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n