Posted on 05/24/2024 8:00:48 PM PDT by Morgana
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Arkansas has sent cease and desist letters to two mail-order abortion pill businesses, threatening lawsuits against them if they continue to market abortion pills to women in Arkansas. The OAG claimed that both New York-based Choices Women’s Medical Center, Inc. and Aid Access out of the Netherlands could be violating “the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA) related to abortion pill marketing and sales.”
“Abortions are prohibited in Arkansas except under very limited circumstances,” Attorney General Tim Griffin wrote in a press release. “As such, abortion pills may not be legally shipped to Arkansans or brought into the State for use by Arkansans. My office has verified that both Choices Women’s Medical Center, Inc., and Aid Access are advertising the availability of abortion-inducing pills to Arkansans in contravention of our laws,”
Choices Women’s Medical Center, Inc.
Choices Women’s Medical Center, Inc. is an abortion facility in Queens, New York founded by millionaire abortionist Merle Hoffman. Abortions are committed there up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, which it calls “specialized care.”
The OAG of Arkansas’ May 21, 2024 letter stated, “Recently the OAG received information that Choices Women’s Medical Center, Inc., is (1) representing that abortion-inducing medical pills may be legally obtained or brought to Arkansas, and (2) providing such pills to women within Arkansas or to bring to Arkansas. The OAG independently reviewed Choices Women’s Medical Center, Inc.’s website and verified these allegations,” the AG’s letter read in part.
“Abortions are prohibited in Arkansas…Consequently, abortion pills may not legally be obtained or brought to Arkansas,” the letter claimed.
“Based on this information it appears some of your business practices may constitute false, deceptive, and unconscionable trade practices under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act…(ADTPA)…” the letter warned.
As such, “The Attorney General of Arkansas demands that you CEASE and DESIST from conducting any advertising related to the performance of abortion services in the State of Arkansas,” the letter stated.
Online, Choices Women’s Medical Center abortion facility is openly willing to provide abortions to out-of-town clients, and even more disturbing is willing to hide those procedures from the parents of minor girls.
“Our abortion clinic’s Out-of-Town Program was created with your needs in mind. In most cases, you can get an appointment within 1-3 days. New York State allows abortion up to 24 weeks with NO limitations. NO age restrictions. NO requirements that you notify parents or partners, NO waiting periods,” the clinic’s website states.
If the abortion facility refuses to comply with the OAG, Griffin has threatened to open a “formal investigation” and “bring a lawsuit against” the abortion facility for violating the ADTPA. If found guilty of one or more violations, Choices would likely be fined $10,000 in civil penalties per violation.
Aid Access
Aid Access, an international abortion pill business out of the Netherlands, announced last year that it was revamping its online abortion pill operation to ensure that doctors in states with “shield laws” could mail the drugs to states that restrict or prohibit abortion.
In 2018, Dutch abortionist Rebecca Gomperts co-founded Aid Access to utilize telemedicine for abortion. Gomperts also co-founded Women on Web and Women on Waves.
Until recently, the group’s abortion pills were likely shipped into the United States through India without FDA approval. In March 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a warning letter to AidAccess.org to cease shipments of the pills to the U.S.
A lawsuit filed in the case suggested at the time that the Aid Access abortion combipack was manufactured by a pharmaceutical company marketed by DKT International. The warning letter failed to sway Gomperts, who has openly advised people to “lie to everybody” — and she continued to ship abortion drugs anyway.
In 2022, Glamour Magazine described the Aid Access process this way: “In states where medication abortion is legal, patients who use its website are referred to local doctors who prescribe the pills, which an online pharmacist fills. Costs max out at $150.”
The Arkansas AG’s cease and desist letter accused Aid Access of “(1) advertising that abortion-inducing medical pills may legally be obtained in Arkansas, and (2) selling such pills to women within Arkansas. The OAG independently reviewed Aid Access’ website and verified these allegations,” the letter read in part.
“Abortion pills may not legally be shipped to Arkansas,” the letter reiterated.
The Arkansas OAG then threatened to file a “false, deceptive, and unconscionable trade practices” lawsuit against Aid Access under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA).
Aid Access supplies so-called “advance provision” abortion pills to women who are not pregnant, and founder Rebecca Gomperts told Politico she hopes U.S. doctors will start to do likewise to evade abortion restrictions “by writing a prescription for perfectly lawful medications for someone who is not, in fact, pregnant.” To do so breaks FDA safety protocols.
“These companies must cease and desist advertising relating to the performance of abortion services in Arkansas immediately or face the possibility of lawsuits from my office. As Attorney General, I will continue fighting to enforce the laws of our state,” Griffin wrote.
“The Attorney General may sue violators of the ADTPA and seek civil penalties of $10,000 per violation. Both companies have 14 days to notify Griffin in writing of the steps they have taken to comply with his letter,” the Arkansas AG’s letter also read.
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