Blanche Assures Anti-abortion Supporters That Dobbs Will Be ‘permanent In Every Single State’

As his confirmation to lead the Justice Department hung by a thread last week, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told faith leaders on a private call that he was preparing to take action to roll back abortion access nationwide.

On a recording of the call posted online Thursday by the religious group Intercessors for America and hosted by the White House Faith Office, Blanche lamented that the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict abortion are “taking longer than we want” but said the Justice Department was “working hand in hand” with federal health agencies and the White House “so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.”

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the federal abortion protections of Roe v. Wade and allowed states to either ban or protect the procedure, created a national patchwork of access. To the consternation of abortion opponents, the number of abortions has increased since then despite dozens of states enacting restrictions.

“We don't have complete victory yet, but we will have victory, and victory will be soon, and and and it will be permanent,” Blanche vowed.

In addition to those broad pronouncements, Blanche appeared to suggest specific restrictions were coming on telehealth prescription and mail delivery of abortion pills, saying the administration is “putting practices and policies in place” to stop shipment of the medications to states where they are banned.

Blanche's remarks — made days before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Tuesday morning vote on his nomination — go far beyond the actions on abortion he promised during his confirmation hearing. They also conflict with promises President Donald Trump made on the campaign trail to keep the federal government from enforcing restrictions on the pills.

Asked to explain what Blanche meant by “victory” and by making the high court decision “permanent in every single state,” the Justice Department said his comments were made solely “with respect to mail order abortion drugs” and did not elaborate further.

On the call, Blanche referenced the increase in blue-state doctors operating under shield laws prescribing the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol to patients living under bans and mailing the medications across state lines, and he promised to put a stop to the practice.

“If states have said, ‘We are going to protect the unborn and we’re going to protect every life from the moment of conception,’ we’re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can’t attack that,” he said. “They can't do things like they’re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs.”

Blanche did not tell the religious activists on the call whether he planned to block patients’ access to the pills using Food and Drug Administration drug safety regulations or the Comstock Act — a 150-year-old, long-dormant anti-obscenity law that some anti-abortion activists and elected officials have pushed as a tool for cutting off access to all drugs and surgical instruments used for abortion.

The distinction is meaningful. The FDA is considering reimposing restrictions on mifepristone, one of two pills needed to terminate a pregnancy. It is not looking at doing the same for the second pill, misoprostol, which is also widely used for treating ulcers and other health issues. Should the agency decide to cut off telehealth prescription and mail delivery of mifepristone, doctors and activists have contingency plans to continue prescribing and mailing misoprostol, which can cause an abortion on its own.

Invoking the Comstock Act, however, could block patients’ access to both pills through the mail throughout the U.S., though how the government would enforce the 1873 law to stop postal delivery of the medications to private homes remains unclear.

The Biden administration’s Justice Department in 2022 asserted that doctors could not be prosecuted for mailing abortion pills under the Comstock Act, arguing that since both pills are legal in every state for non-abortion purposes — such as treating miscarriages and postpartum bleeding — it wasn’t possible to prove that they were being mailed for an illicit purpose.

The Trump administration has yet to formally overrule that legal opinion. A Justice Department spokesperson said Monday that the opinion is now undergoing “a thorough review.”

When running for president in 2024, Trump angered anti-abortion groups by vowing not to use the Comstock Act to restrict access to abortion pills and arguing that “the federal government should have nothing to do with this issue.”

Blanche’s promises of imminent action to the activists on the call conflict with that pledge and surpass what the nominee said publicly in his confirmation hearing in mid-July.

Under questioning by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other GOP committee members, Blanche agreed to “carefully evaluate every lawful action available to ensure the faithful enforcement of the Comstock Act,” but did not commit to any particular enforcement steps.

Blanche was also pressed multiple times during the hearing on the administration’s ongoing legal battle with Louisiana over mail-order abortion pills. In the leadup to the hearing, he faced demands from some conservative senators on the Judiciary Committee for a promise to settle the case — a move that could also lead to nationwide restrictions on mail delivery of the drugs. But he demurred when GOP senators pushed him publicly, saying: “I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about our litigation strategy here.”

In the leadup to September, when the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear Louisiana’s case against the FDA, anti-abortion activists have railed against the Trump administration for siding with the FDA over the conservative state in a case that could determine who can access mifepristone and how.

Blanche suggested in his confirmation hearing that the FDA’s ongoing review of mifepristone’s safety — which more than 100 peer-reviewed studies have confirmed — could give the administration the ammunition it needs to side with Louisiana in rolling back telehealth access to the drugs.

“We have to have studies that we can defend in court,” he said. “We have to be able to say to a judge … that our change was not arbitrary or capricious.”

During the White House Faith Office call last week, Blanche told the religious activists he shared their values and concerns, calling himself “a preacher’s kid.” He also apologized for being late, saying he was “updating President Trump on a few things, and when he calls, I answer.”

The acting attorney general’s conversation with Trump appears to have taken place just hours after the president publicly mused about pulling Blanche’s nomination and instead trying to push through a fund that could be used to compensate Jan. 6 rioters and others who claim to have been persecuted by the Biden administration.

Announcements at the beginning and end of the Intercessors for America call stated that it was “not intended for press purposes.” A speaker told attendees that the call was “not on the record” and directed any journalists on the line to hang up.

POLITICO was not on the call on Thursday when it took place and did not agree to any limits on reporting. Audio of the session was posted on YouTube by Intercessors for America, which calls itself “the largest national prayer ministry dedicated to praying for our government and leaders.”

As of Monday, the recording remained publicly accessible.