House Dems Urge Private Mail Carriers to Protect Access to Abortion Pills

Five Democratic lawmakers called on private mail companies on Wednesday to ensure their customers' privacy rights are protected as more people are likely to rely on the mail to obtain medication abortions.

"In the event that your employees become aware that a package in their possession contains abortion medication, they are under no obligation to alert law enforcement."

Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), and Katie Porter (D-Calif.) wrote to FedEx, UPS, and DHL, asking for a closed briefing with the companies to learn what steps they are taking to make sure protections against unreasonable search and seizure are upheld.

"In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, certain state and local law enforcement entities may attempt to prevent access to safe, effective, and legal abortion medication by seizing deliveries while in transit," wrote the Democrats.

The letter comes nearly a month after the high court's ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, swiftly ending access to legal abortion for millions of people in states including Texas, Missouri, and Mississippi.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted restrictions on sending abortion pills via mail last year, but Republican state legislators began cracking down on access this year prior to the Supreme Court ruling. Texas passed a law making it a felony to provide the pills--misoprostol and mifepristone--through the mail after passing its six-week abortion ban last year. Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a similar bill in May, and lawmakers in Missouri have proposed classifying the mailing of abortion pills as drug trafficking.

Nineteen states have also banned the use of telemedicine to provide medication abortions, which account for more than half of all abortions in the United States.

"Extremists have indicated they'll use every trick in the book to prevent Americans from obtaining abortions, including through legal home delivery," said Porter.

The lawmakers urged the three companies to recognize that "in the event that your employees become aware that a package in their possession contains abortion medication, they are under no obligation to alert law enforcement, as this medication is FDA-approved and therefore legal."

"In the event that state or local law enforcement request to search packages in your company's possession for abortion medication, we urge you to uphold your customers' constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure by requiring that law enforcement provide a search warrant before giving officers access to company premises or property," they wrote.

Bush said people who need abortion care in her home state of Missouri will likely rely on companies like FedEx to protect their right to privacy if they obtain care through the mail.

"At a time when states like Missouri are enacting far-right extremist, harmful abortion bans, Congress has a responsibility to do everything we can to safeguard people's privacy and protect access to abortion care," said Bush.