Judging Freedom - U.S. relaxes restriction on abortion pill

Episode Date: December 17, 2021

The FDA says abortion pills can be sent by mail, Judge Napolitano breaks it all down. #Abortion #SupremeCourt #FDASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, my friends, John J. Andrew Napolitano here, judging freedom and other what's on my mind pop up where I come to this camera and discuss the latest legal development. You know, you can watch these five minute segments and you can watch the longer interviews. On Monday, I'll be interviewing Peter Schiff, who's just about the smartest economist or one of the smartest economists I know on the free market side, as well as the inimitable Roger Stone, who today was before the January 6th Committee of the House of Representatives. And I understand he pleaded the 5th. He'll describe to us what that was like. But today, I want to remind you, please subscribe to these pop-ups that I do, and you can do so on the YouTube channel, and then subscribe to the alerts.

None of this costs you any money. It just lets you know via email when I'm going to come on and discuss some event in the legal judicial community. And there's also room for you to ask me a question. My team loves to read the questions, and then we figure out which ones we're going to answer. Give us your name and give us your town, and if it's a good question, I'll read it and read your name in town and I'll give you the answer. What's on my mind today is a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to permit the so-called morning after pill. This is what's known as an abortifacient. It actually is a pill that performs an abortion that causes the mother to expel the baby from her womb. It usually works in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. So this pill works in the time period during which under Roe

versus Wade, that's the Supreme Court's opinion on abortion, the states may not interfere with an abortion. However, there are two cases before the Supreme Court. Mississippi, which is now permitting abortions up to 15 weeks, so that's not affected by this pill. Texas, which bans all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, that's after six weeks. Now, that Texas law is being challenged in a Texas state court and in federal court in Texas. And right now, that law stands, meaning if a woman from Texas obtained this morning after abortifacient pill through the mail in Texas, she would be exposing herself to the consequences of violating the Texas law. Now, the consequences are a little odd because there's no fine, there's no jail time, there's no penalty imposed by the state. But if you do this, if you do have an abortion in Texas after six weeks, you can be sued by someone anywhere on the planet in a Texas state court.

And all that person has to do is prove that you had the abortion or you participated in the abortion. And then you owe them ten thousand dollars. Admittedly, this is an unusual statute, but it is the law and the supreme court has declined to interfere with it so what a can of worms the food and drug administration is opening right now after the supreme court has heard oral argument in the mississippi case and seems to be on the verge of repealing roe versus wade and planned parenthood versus Casey. That's the follow-up to Roe versus Wade 19 years later, which basically reinforces the Roe decision. I can't predict where any of this is going to go. I don't know how anyone would know in Texas if a woman did use the morning after pill and did expel the baby from her womb. All of this adds another

level of complication to abortion in America. Ask me any questions you want. We'll read the questions. I'll give you the answers. Have a nice weekend. Judge Napolitano, judging freedom.