Arkansas AG accuses abortion providers of advertising to Arkansans, threatens legal action
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sent cease and desist letters to two abortion providers, Aid Access, based in Austria, and Choices Women’s Medical Center, in New York City, accusing the two of advertising to Arkansans.
“My office has verified that both Choices Women’s Medical Center, Inc., and Aid Access are advertising the availability of abortion-inducing pills to Arkansans in contravention of our laws," Griffin said in a statement Tuesday.
Aid Access, founded in 2018 by Dutch Physician Dr. Rebecca Gompert, sends abortion medication through the mail in partnership with U.S. abortion providers.
Choices Women’s Medical Center is a New York City abortion clinic founded in 1971, two years before the Roe v. Wade. It provides services only in person.
“Abortions are prohibited in Arkansas," Griffin wrote in his letter. "Consequently, abortion pills may not legally be shipped to Arkansas. Based on this information, it appears that some of your business practices may constitute false, deceptive, and unconscionable trade practices under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act."
"The Attorney General of Arkansas demands that you CEASE AND DESIST from conducting any advertising related to the performance of abortion services in the State of Arkansas IMMEDIATELY.”
In a written statement, he threatened lawsuits if his office doesn't receive a reply outlining compliance within two weeks.
On Choices Women's Medical Center's website, there are hundreds of pages titled “Abortion Clinic Near…” with the names of different towns and cities in states across the U.S., including Arkansas. This is apparently for search engine optimization purposes, to reach people searching for services in those places.
The Attorney General’s letter may be referring to this when it says that Choices is “representing that abortion-inducing medical pills may legally be obtained or brought to Arkansas," and "providing such pills to women within Arkansas or to bring to Arkansas.”
Choices' website is clear, however, that the clinic only provides services in person in New York City, though it does offer a program to help people travel there.
“We don’t have a telemedicine program,” Choices founder and CEO Merle Hoffman told Jezebel this week, calling the pages with names of towns "educational."
The Arkansas abortion amendment
The attorney general's letter and statement comes a month and a half ahead of a major milestone in the effort to place a constitutional amendment before Arkansas voters that would allow some abortions in the state.
The July 5 deadline to collect enough signatures to make it onto the statewide November ballot in Arkansas is now only about 45 days out.
Rebecca Bobrow, director of strategy at Arkansans for Limited Government, the group working to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November, said on Friday that the effort is on track.
“Everyone feels cautiously optimistic that we're going to get this done," she said.
She said that, as she understands it, the cease and desist letters are "unlikely to deter" the abortion providers in question, which she said are “pretty brazen in how they operate.”
“In my non-legal opinion, I do not think there’s teeth to this threat," she said. "New York clinics and clinics based overseas are not beholden to Arkansas state laws and regulations.”
But Griffin’s move “just makes it clear what the state's intentions are," she said. "It signals to us that the amendment is more important than ever."
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas AG accuses abortion providers of advertising to Arkansans
