Attorney General Wilson Tells Pharmacies

Abortion Pill by Mail Unsafe, Illegal;

Use of Mail to Take Human Life “Reprehensible”

By Holly Gatling, Executive Director

South Carolina Citizens for Life

COLUMBIA, SC. (Thursday, February 2, 2023) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined a coalition of 20 state attorneys general informing Walgreens and CVS that the pharmacies’ announcement to distribute the “abortion pill” is “unsafe and illegal.”

In a press release from his office today, General Wilson said, “Use of the mail to take human life is reprehensible.” Chemical abortions using a cocktail of poisons to kill the developing baby “impose far higher risks of complication compared to surgical abortion. In addition, abortion pills, especially when distributed by mail, makes coerced abortions much easier.”

CVS and Walgreens recently announced that they are seeking FDA certification to use the mail to sell abortion pills, the press release states. 

Under the South Carolina Abortion Clinic Regulations, all women seeking an abortion must be seen in person and examined by a qualified physician. The state’s three free-standing abortion facilities are regulated by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

Cristi Moore, Chief Communications Officer for DHEC, said that "while the department regulates controlled substances (generally meaning narcotic drugs), the abortion drug Mifepristone is not a controlled substance."

In South Carolina nearly 75 percent of all abortions were induced chemically, according to DHEC abortion data for 2021, the latest year for which data is available. Nearly all abortions are done in two Planned Parenthood facilities in Columbia and Charleston, and a private abortion business in Greenville, the Greenville Women’s Clinic.

The attorneys general letter to Walgreens and CVS warns that “Federal law expressly prohibits using the mail to send or receive any drug that will ‘be used or applied for producing abortion.’”  The Biden administration is “ignoring the law and overstepping its authority,” the press release states. “That is why I’m letting these companies know that we will do everything we can to uphold the law if it’s broken,” General Wilson said.

“We emphasize that it is our responsibility as State Attorneys General to uphold the law and protect the health, safety, and well-being of women and unborn children in our state,” the attorneys general conclude in the letter.

The other states include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. 

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.

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