Todd Blanche Wins Attorney General Post by 1 Vote, Threatening Abortion Pill Access
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 22
Todd Blanche Wins Attorney General Post by 1 Vote, Threatening Abortion Pill Access
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 22
Summary
A one-vote, party-line Senate confirmation on Aug. 8 put Todd Blanche atop the Justice Department, where he is expected to push harder against abortion access than predecessor Pam Bondi.
Blanche told Christian conservative leaders before the vote that he would move to stop mifepristone from being mailed across state lines and make the Dobbs ruling “permanent in every single state.”
The clearest legal route is the 1873 Comstock Act: as attorney general, Blanche could reverse the Biden-era view that providers cannot be prosecuted for mailing abortion pills, potentially disrupting access to both mifepristone and misoprostol.
He could also challenge Democratic-led states' shield laws and back FDA restrictions on telehealth prescribing or broader limits on mifepristone, including in a Louisiana case headed to the 5th Circuit next month.
The shift would mark a sharper federal turn after Trump had moved cautiously on abortion amid Dobbs-era political backlash and the approaching 2026 midterms.