Legislators in the Hawkeye State are pushing a bill that would bar the shipping or mailing of the abortion drug mifepristone, restoring at the state-level several safeguards removed at the federal level. Iowa Senate Republicans advanced SSB 3115 this week, according to a report from Iowa Public Radio.

The legislation would block the abortion drug from being shipped or mailed by requiring that it be prescribed and dispensed in-person, further mandating that a physician conduct an “in-person examination of the pregnant woman, including screening for indicia of coercion or abuse.” The bill also includes a provision requiring hospitals and emergency rooms to record and report adverse complications arising from consuming the abortion drug and requiring those prescribing the drug to inform pregnant women of the abortion pill reversal process, emphasizing the urgency of the process in order to save the life of the unborn child.

In 2021, under then-President Joe Biden, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) diluted the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) guidelines surrounding the prescription and use of mifepristone, removing the in-person dispensing requirement and, as a result, opening a nationwide online network whereby virtually anyone can order the abortion drug and have it shipped in the mail. Pro-life advocates and Republicans at the federal level have consistently urged President Donald Trump’s FDA to restore the REMS safeguards.

In comments to The Washington Stand, Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, said, “I am encouraged to see that the Iowa state senate is advancing legislation requiring in-person dispensing of abortion drugs, reporting of adverse events, and information about abortion pill reversal.” She said that the bill “rightly applies to all drugs intended to kill an innocent unborn child and, in the event that the FDA does reinstate safety precautions for mifepristone, this law will prevent abortionists from simply turning to another drug to kill innocent unborn babies while maiming their mothers.” Szoch added, “Let’s pray that more states follow the example of Iowa and help a culture of life grow within their state by protecting both unborn babies and their mothers.”

The bill would further empower the pregnant mother, the father of the aborted child, or the pregnant mother’s immediate family members to sue individuals and entities that violate the in-person dispensing requirement. In recent years, abortionists in blue states have circumvented pro-life laws enacted in other states by simply mailing the abortion drug across state lines. States like California and New York have also adopted “shield laws,” protecting abortionists in those states from being prosecuted for violating other states’ pro-life laws. SSB 3115 would, in turn, circumvent blue state “shield laws” by enabling mothers, fathers, and family members to take the out-of-state abortionists to court “for all damages caused by the abortion-inducing drug…”

Other states have already advanced or enacted similar provisions empowering mothers, fathers, and family members to sue out-of-state abortionists. In Texas, Jerry Rodriguez, the father of an unborn child killed by the abortion drug, has filed a lawsuit against Remy Coeytaux, a California-based abortionist who shipped the abortion drug to the plaintiff’s pregnant girlfriend. “Under the law of Texas, a person who aids or abets another person’s self-managed abortion commits the crime of murder and can be sued for wrongful death,” the first-of-its-kind lawsuit declared. “In violation of these and many other laws, defendant Remy Coeytaux mailed abortion-inducing drugs into Texas that were used to murder Jerry Rodriguez’s unborn child.”

Florida’s Republican-led state legislature introduced similar bills to allow out-of-state abortionists to be sued in Florida courts. “A person, regardless of whether a citizen or resident of this state, who personally or through an agent violates s.390.0111(2), is under the jurisdiction of the courts of this state for the causes of action” listed in the legislation, the text of the bill stipulates. Florida Statutes Section 390.0111 bars abortions after six weeks’ gestation, except in a handful of limited circumstances. “It is not a defense to a suit brought under this section that … [t]he law of a foreign state or foreign country permits the action that forms the basis for the suit,” the Florida bills clarify, explicitly targeting “shield laws.”

Other states, such as Louisiana, have filed federal lawsuits against blue state governors, including Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) and Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.), to force the extradition of abortionists like Coeytaux and New York-based abortionist Margaret Carpenter. Coeytaux and Carpenter have been indicted in Louisiana for violating the state’s pro-life laws by mailing the abortion drug across state lines. In one instance, the drug was mailed to a man posing online as his estranged pregnant wife; he later hid the abortion drug in his wife’s food in an effort to kill his unborn child.