The abortion industry and its allies desperately want to keep the abortion pill regimen—mifepristone and misoprostol—on the market with virtually no regulation for good. But their wishes come with dangerous consequences. Lawyers, lawmakers and pro-abortion activists are shamelessly putting women’s health at risk by promoting the elimination of any oversight for these powerful and life-ending drugs.
For now, the U.S. Supreme Court is allowing chemical abortion to remain on the market. The Court hit pause on a Texas U.S. District Court’s order to suspend FDA approval of mifepristone, issued in a November 2022 case challenging the approval of the abortion pill regimen and lax regulations surrounding its access. Whether the order will resume now depends on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will rule on an appeal from the District Court case. The medical associations and doctors who initiated the litigation are concerned that the FDA failed to consider the many safety risks that come with access to chemical abortions—and rightly so.
Often delivered by mail right to a woman’s doorstep, chemical abortion precludes the opportunity for medical evaluation by a health care practitioner, putting the lives of both mother and child at risk. Forgoing in-person medical screening risks delayed screening for and treatment of ectopic pregnancy, a dangerous condition detectible by ultrasound, which can prove fatal in the case of a chemical abortion. A peer-reviewed study of 423,000 taxpayer-funded abortions found that the number of chemical abortion-related emergency room visits exploded from 2002 to 2015, even surpassing the total of emergency room visits for complications from surgical abortions. In addition to the immediate risk, women face even more long-term side effects from terminating the innocent lives in their wombs.
There is no question that whether by pills or surgery, abortion can cause significant mental health damage to women. Studies show that those who receive abortions experience consistently higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse disorders, and PTSD than women who carry their children to term. These women also show more self-destructive behavior and face a suicide rate six times higher than women who do not receive abortions. In fact, more than 20 percent of college women experience suicidal thoughts for the first time following an abortion, causing them to spiral down a path of shame, self-loathing, and repeat abortions.
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These harrowing statistics don’t seem to faze the abortion industry, which has a financial incentive to oppose restrictions on the pills or else put its billion-dollar business at risk. Some attorneys are encouraging doctors to dangerously prescribe abortion drugs off-label if the Supreme Court bans mifepristone, while others have urged President Joe Biden to ignore any future court ruling restricting access to the drug. Even the Canadian government has suggested that it would provide mifepristone to American women.
The New York Times recently went so far as to suggest that if mifepristone is made illegal, “patients in states where abortion is banned may get away with ordering pills online for personal use,” such as through overseas drug trafficking. Women who follow this illegal recommendation would continue to place themselves at risk of dangerous abortion drugs without advance medical screening from a physician.
Oregon’s governor, Democrat Tina Kotek, has taken measures to a new extreme by stockpiling three years’ worth of mifepristone for use depending on the outcome of the pending Supreme Court case. Her stockpile contains enough of the drug to end more than 22,000 innocent lives. Other states, including Washington, California, New York, Maryland, and Massachusetts, are following her lead and hoarding bulk amounts of the abortion pill for future use. Whether they realize it or not, Gov. Kotek and other lawmakers are prioritizing a radical abortion agenda over women’s health and safety.
Women and their unborn children deserve better. Pro-abortion activists and lawmakers must stop jeopardizing women’s well-being in favor of their extreme abortion agenda, regardless of how the courts rule on the regulation of chemical abortions.
Jeanne Mancini is president of March for Life.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
