In response to news that abortion advocacy groups, led by the ACLU, are suing the FDA to eliminate longstanding safety protocols for chemical abortion, the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List issued the following statement:
“From the start, abortion advocates have sought to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to proliferate dangerous abortion drugs,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Now groups that claim to have women’s health care at heart are suing the FDA to overturn reasonable, lifesaving precautions related to chemical abortion. Not only does the abortion drug destroy the life of the unborn child, this chemical coathanger poses a serious risk of potentially life-threatening complications. Research shows as many as five to seven percent of women who undergo chemical abortions will require follow-up surgery. While the abortion industry and its allies promote these drugs as the safe, easy, nearly painless way to have an abortion, the truth is that women can experience intense pain, heavy bleeding, infection, and even death as a result of chemically-induced abortions. This is a reckless lawsuit which endangers the lives of women and their children.”
Earlier this month, 56 pro-life leaders sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn urging him to take action to stop the illegal internet sale of abortion-inducing drugs, manufactured overseas and shipped into the U.S. Under the FDA’s current Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), the abortion drug Mifeprex or generic mifepristone cannot legally be sold in pharmacies or online due to the risk of serious complications – but website domains such as AidAccess and Rablon that sell and distribute abortion-inducing drugs continually flout REMS requirements. The letter reads in part:
“We appreciate that the FDA is seriously defending the necessary safeguards contained in the Mifeprex REMS in litigation. These safeguards are meaningless, however, if opportunistic entities can sell abortion-inducing drugs over the internet with impunity. We urge the FDA to act now to stop this predatory and dangerous practice.”
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) and U.S. Representative Bob Latta (OH-05) also sent a bicameral letter to Commissioner Hahn urging the FDA to uphold and enforce the REMS.
Experts at SBA List’s research arm, Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), have previously criticized flawed research on chemical abortion drugs suggesting that self-administered chemical abortions do not pose dangers to women. Lawmakers have introduced federal legislation that would stop the expansion of dangerous chemical abortion drugs.
