Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued President Joe Biden’s administration over its decision to force pharmacies to sell abortion pills.
The Department of Human and Health Services (HHS) told pharmacies they need to provide the pills “in order to stay in compliance with the Biden Administration’s view of federal law.”
The pharmacies “would face the loss of Medicaid and Medicare funds” if they fail to abide by the administration.
Paxton stated: “The Biden Administration knows that it has no legal authority to institute this radical abortion agenda, so now it’s trying to intimidate every pharmacy in America by threatening to withhold federal funds. It’s not going to work. Texas and several other states across the country have dutifully passed laws to protect the unborn, and we are not going to back down just because unelected bureaucrats in Washington want to create illegal, extremist federal policies.”
Biden’s administration has scrambled to save the ability to murder unborn human beings after the Supreme Court finally overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24. Our “devout Catholic” president stands behind the moves.
Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately said, “States may not ban Mifepristone [RU486]” despite SCOTUS ruling that “[t]he Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion.”
However, Texas and other states took action once Roe v. Wade went away, passing their own abortion laws.
The Texas Human Life Protection Act says a “person may not knowingly perform, induce, or attempt an abortion” unless the woman “has a life-threatening physical condition” if the pregnancy puts her “at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed.”
So how does one usually get someone to do his or her bidding?
Money.
That’s where Medicare and Medicaid funds enter the conversation. Paxton lists other reasons why the Pharmacy Mandate is illegal, but using Medicare and Medicaid funds affects everyone because those are our tax dollars:
The Pharmacy Mandate stipulates that “as recipients of federal financial assistance, including Medicare and Medicaid payments, pharmacies are prohibited under law from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability in their programs and activities. This includes supplying prescribed medications; making determinations regarding the suitability of prescribed medications for a patient; and advising a patient about prescribed medications and how to take them.”The Pharmacy Mandate requires pharmacies to dispense abortifacients as a condition of receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments by threatening pharmacies with legal action.
The Pharmacy Mandate violates the Hyde Amendment:
The Pharmacy Mandate also conflicts with the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits use of federal dollars to fund abortions except when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or if the woman’s life is in danger. Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Pub. L. No. 117-103, Div. H., Tit. V, §§ 506–07. By conditioning pharmacies’ receipt of federal funds on their dispensing of abortion-inducing drugs, Defendants’ Pharmacy Mandate uses federal dollars to fund abortions outside the allowable scope of the Hyde Amendment. Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Pub. L. No. 117-103, Div. H., Tit. V, §§ 506–07.
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