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VietnameseGriffin: ‘The law is very clear on this issue, and regardless of how one feels about the law, it is vital that the law be upheld’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement after he led a multistate letter to Congress urging lawmakers to consider passing federal legislation to preempt pro-abortion States’ shield laws that attempt to protect those that ship abortion pills to States where abortion is illegal:
“The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was a monumental decision, and it properly placed authority over the legality of abortion with individual States. Arkansas and many other states have since outlawed abortion, but we have faced a problem of abortion pills such as mifepristone, which are taken to induce chemical abortions, being shipped into our State illegally. The law is very clear on this issue, and regardless of how one feels about the law, it is vital that the law be upheld.
“That’s why today I was joined by 15 attorneys general in sending a letter to Congress asking them to consider whether they can act at the federal level to address this issue. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, different States passed laws purporting to ‘shield’ abortion providers from liability and prosecution for performing or aiding in abortions in other states. These laws are blatant attempts to interfere with states’ ability to enforce criminal laws within their borders and disrupt our constitutional structure. Therefore, we are asking Congress to consider passing legislation that preempts shield laws.”
Griffin was joined on the letter by the attorneys general of Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
To read the letter to Congress, click here.
Griffin issued the following statement announcing that he has sent cease-and-desist letters to two entities that are shipping abortion pills to Arkansas or advertising the availability of abortion pills to be shipped to Arkansas. In addition, Griffin issued two cease-and-desist letters to two companies, one domain registry and one domain host, that support a website that promotes the abortion-inducing drugs.
“This is not the first time I have sent letters to providers and advertisers who were openly defying Arkansas’s laws, and as long as it continues, I will continue to seek to hold these companies accountable.”
The letters, which are available to view by clicking on the name of the recipient, were sent to Possibility Labs of San Francisco; Mayday Medicines Inc. of New York; Dreamscape International of Singapore; and Cloudflare of San Francisco.
To download a PDF of this release, click here.
About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin is currently an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard and holds the rank of colonel. Griffin served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
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