Recording Shows Todd Blanche Pledging Abortion Curbs in 50 States
Updated
Updated · The Independent · Aug 4
Recording Shows Todd Blanche Pledging Abortion Curbs in 50 States
3 articles · Updated · The Independent · Aug 4
Summary
A recording posted online captured Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche telling religious leaders the administration is working to make the 2022 Dobbs ruling “permanent in every state.”
Blanche said the DOJ was working with federal health agencies and the White House to stop doctors in abortion-legal states from prescribing mail-order abortion pills to patients in states that ban the procedure.
The DOJ said his remarks were being misread and referred only to mail-order abortion drugs, not a broader federal effort to override state abortion laws.
The call surfaced as Blanche’s nomination to lead the DOJ advanced 12-10 in the Senate Judiciary Committee after he dropped a plan tied to Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.”
Democrats and reproductive-rights groups seized on the recording, with Senator Richard Blumenthal calling Blanche a “zealot” and opponents warning he aims to curb reproductive healthcare nationwide.