On abortion, watch what Republicans do rather than what they say

This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 27 episode of "Velshi."

As Election Day approaches, Republicans are working hard to distance themselves, their party and their presidential candidate from what is arguably their most successful — and most unpopular —policy: the undoing of Roe v. Wade.

You may be hearing a lot of misdirection from the GOP — a lot of talk about how abortion has just been “turned over to the states” or about how the party believes in exceptions to bans. But as surely as we are all watching a parade of horror stories from women suffering, even dying, as they are denied basic health care, Republicans are working toward what is and always has been the ultimate goal of the anti-abortion movement: to ban abortion nationally.

And that is why it is more important now than ever to watch what they do rather than what they say. Because what Republicans are doing right now is laying the groundwork for a ruthless federal abortion ban. 

Right now, three Republican attorneys general from Kansas, Idaho and Missouri are trying to revive a case challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. This is the same case that the Supreme Court dismissed earlier in the year for lack of standing. In June, the court found that the original plaintiffs, a coalition of anti-abortion groups and doctors, could not demonstrate that they had experienced any harm from the drug’s approval more than 20 years ago. 

Initially, Kansas, Idaho and Missouri joined the suit as intervenors. This time, though, they’re refiling as plaintiffs, asserting that they have standing based on the harms they claim their states have suffered as a result of the drug’s approval. 

Kansas’ involvement is especially surprising, given that the largely Republican state’s voters affirmed abortion rights in a 2022 referendum, making abortion there legal. But Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, is unfazed by this little detail of democracy and expression of popular will, writing in a statement, “We’re pursuing this case to protect Kansas women.” Never mind that Kansas women have already expressed their support for abortion rights, Kobach seems to think they voted wrong.

It’s important to know that these three Republican attorneys general are not filing in their home states, where one might naturally expect the case to be heard. Nor are they filing in Maryland, where the FDA is based or in any state where the pill is still legally prescribed. Instead, they’re piggybacking on the case that was previously dismissed, hoping to bring it back before the same specific federal judge in Texas who suspended mifepristone’s approval, a decision later reversed by the Supreme Court 

It’s a brazen attempt to secure a favorable judge and when you consider that a judge in Texas could override the will of Kansas voters, it makes the move all the more audacious.

“It’s a nakedly political, judge-shopping ploy,” David S. Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University, told The New York Times. “If Missouri, Idaho and Kansas are genuinely harmed by these pills, they should file in Missouri, Idaho or Kansas. But they want to be before Judge Kacsmaryk, so they’re trying to piggyback on a lawsuit that had no standing in the first place — and that shouldn’t be allowed.”

Remember, these state attorneys general are refiling this case on the basis that their states are suffering harms by the availability of abortion medication and one of the alleged harms they’re citing is that, because of the abortion pill mifepristone being widely available, not enough teenage girls are giving birth. They argue that lowered teen pregnancy rates deprive their states of future citizens and could even cost them a House seat and federal funding.

I’m not making that up. According to the amended complaint:

That’s three Republican men who are effectively arguing that women and girls exist for the purposes of churning out new babies for their states. 

According to reproductive rights writer S.P. Rogers:

This is dark stuff. Beyond how dehumanizing this is to women, basic logic suggests that the state isn’t being “deprived” of funds when there aren’t additional citizens to serve. Yet here we are, facing arguments that claim a state interest in a woman’s most personal and intimate choices.

This was never about restoring states’ rights, despite what Donald Trump claims. It’s about controlling women. Republicans won’t stop until abortion is banned everywhere, which is why the amended complaint focuses on the Comstock Act, a long-dormant obscenity law that prohibits mailing items “intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion.” The 1873 law was passed before women could vote.

Despite the fact a 2022 memo from the Justice Department said the law should not be interpreted to criminalize most abortion pill mailing, the amended complaint invokes the outdated statute in an attempt to reverse several FDA rules that have expanded access to mifepristone, including lifting the in-person visit requirement and permitting the mailing of abortion pills.

As more states have moved to ban abortion post-Dobbs, telehealth centers in blue states have expanded to fill the gap and serve women in these hostile states. Today, the majority of abortions are carried out through medication, typically prescribed and mailed by these telemedicine providers.

When Trump says he won’t pass an abortion ban, it’s because conservatives are counting on the Comstock Act, which was never formally repealed, to do their dirty work. Project 2025 explicitly calls for reviving this law, which under a Republican administration wouldn’t just ban medication abortion, it would also restrict supplies used to procure abortions, making it nearly impossible for clinics in blue states to obtain equipment necessary for surgical abortions.

In other words, the Comstock Act is an effective abortion ban. As Election Day approaches, understand that the goal of the Republican Party is to ban abortion entirely, everywhere. And Republicans won’t stop trying, no matter how many women are harmed or how many may die, until they find a friendly court — or administration — to back their agenda.