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New legislation would turn the Department of Corrections into a full-blown, state-sanctioned drug dealer — the state should reverse course
Normally, drug dealers go to jail. But in Washington, the state’s own Department of Corrections (DOC) could become the cheapest dealer on the block. Its poison of choice? Deadly chemical abortion pills.In February, the Washington state legislature approved legislation that would allow its DOC to sell its stockpile of abortion pills below cost, and last week, the state’s House speaker signed the legislation — Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson is soon expected to sign the bill into law.
If enacted, the legislation would let the DOC essentially give away its abortion pills (more than 155,000 doses worth) at as low a price it wants, setting it up to become what one Republican state senator described as the “free-abortion-pill provider for the entire country.”
Former Governor’s Purchases
Why exactly does a state department of corrections, an office most known for overseeing prisons, have a 155,000-dose stockpile of abortion drugs?
It all started in 2023 when former Gov. Jay Inslee, worried that pending litigation could make abortion pills harder to obtain, ordered the DOC to use its pharmacy license to buy 30,000 doses of mifepristone, a common abortion pill. As he was leaving office, he ordered the DOC to purchase 17,600 more doses of mifepristone, along with 155,000 doses of misoprostol, another common abortion drug. In total, the purchases cost the state about $2 million.
Unfortunately for America, Inslee’s fears proved unfounded when a lawsuit challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone fell short of success, leaving the deadly abortion pill on the market.
Inslee’s failure as a prophet proved equally unfortunate for the DOC, which found itself with $2 million worth of abortion pills. And so, the DOC’s pills have sat in storage for more than two years.
But there’s a ticking time clock on all of this. Pharmaceutical drugs don’t last indefinitely, and 30,000 doses purchased already expired in January. Expired pills can’t be used or sold, so last September, the state announced its plans to incinerate the original 30,000 doses — making the purchase a complete waste of $1,275,000.
Of course, as a pro-lifer, I believe that’s the best thing that could possibly have happened to the pills. But Washington state legislators seem to think otherwise, hence their new plan, which they hope will help the DOC to sell its stockpile of pills so that they don’t “go to waste.”
The bill passed the state’s Senate with a 32-17 vote on Feb. 10 (with two Republicans and every Democrat voting in support). And on Feb. 28, it passed the state’s House of Representatives by a 57-36 vote before being signed by House and Senate leadership last week. Now, the only step left is for Gov. Ferguson to sign it into law.
It’s hard to decide which is worse: the original decision to purchase the pills or the new plan to give them away like candy. --->READ MORE HERE
Washington State Gov. Bob Ferguson is expected to sign SB5917 into law, granting the state permission to get rid of its massive stash of Chemical Abortion Pills as cheaply as it chooses. The bill moved quietly to his desk on March 9 and is set for action on March 14.
In a statement, Students for Life Action (SFLAction) President Kristan Hawkins denounced the bill, saying, “It’s hard to believe that Washington state taxpayers wanted their hard-earned money wasted on a pile of Chemical Abortion Pills that Gov. Ferguson will try to move in a deadly fire sale. The irony of the Department of Corrections becoming drug dealers isn’t lost on me, but what we don’t know is whether Washington state might also be willing to violate pro-life state laws by shipping them from the Blue State to LIFE affirming Red States.”
Hawkins addressed the bizarre story in an opinion piece up at The Federalist, titled: “Washington State Giving Away $2M in Abortion Pills So Stockpile Doesn’t ‘Go to Waste.'”
She wrote, “To confront this kind of state-sanctioned pill pushing, the Trump Administration will need to step up. Step one would be to demand that the Department of Justice enforce the Comstock Act to ensure that Chemical Abortion Pills are not sent through the mail. Step two is to fast track the review of abortion pills at the Food and Drug Administration — that has been talked about from a lot of podiums but has yet to be seen. Step three would be to evaluate abortion water pollution.
“Washington’s original purchase was bad enough. But without this kind of federal intervention, this new legislation would turn the Department of Corrections into a full-blown, state-sanctioned drug dealer — and unless the state wants that title, it should reverse course.” --->READ MORE HERE
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