Montana AG Joins Multistate Coalition Against Telehealth Abortion

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is voicing strong support for a Louisiana lawsuit that is challenging access to abortion drugs.

The Montana AG made his voice heard via a press release that was published on Wednesday, February 18th, joining a coalition of 21 state attorneys.

21 State Attorneys Support Prohibiting Telehealth Abortions

In the press release, Attorney General Knudsen announced Montana's support for a lawsuit that looks to challenge a federal rule from 2023 called REMS or a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy that "removes long-standing safeguards on the chemical abortion drug mifepristone and allowed doctors in one state to prescribe abortion pills to patients in another."

This essentially allowed doctors to prescribe the drug via telehealth and have it sent through the mail, even if states like Montana had stricter laws than the drug's origin.

On one hand, some folks see this as a convenient loophole to get access to the drugs they want and on the other, others see this as the federal government stepping on the right for states to enforce their own rules.

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"The Supreme Court unequivocally held that ‘the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,'" Attorney General Knudsen said in the press release, "Yet the 2023 REMs attempts to usurp the States’ prerogatives on chemical abortion and federalize it."

"Nothing in the Constitution gives the federal government this power."

Attorney General Knudsen says patients getting mifepristone by mail risk putting their home states at financial risk. He shares an example about a New York doctor prescribing the drug to a patient in Louisiana:

A doctor in New York can prescribe mifepristone to a Louisiana patient with virtually no consequence and if that patient suffers some complication, the Louisiana medical system must treat it.

Knudsen says that REMS has already cost Louisiana around $92,000 and is concerned this could also happen to Montanans.

Which Other States Are In This Coalition?

The Montana Attorney General certainly isn't alone in this matter.

According to the press release, Montana joins a coalition consisting of 21 other state attorneys from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

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