Dear John, For years, pro-abortion activists have argued that abortion is “healthcare.” But we know that abortion is the opposite of life-affirming care.
In addition to intentionally ending the life of a preborn human being, abortion harms women emotionally, psychologically, and physically. We’re seeing an alarming rise in abortion violence from the use of chemical abortion pills. In fact, the FDA’s own reports show that the number of women ending up in emergency rooms from chemical abortion complications has increased. As a result of taking chemical abortion pills, 32 women have died, 4,218 women have reported serious complications, 1,049 women have been hospitalized, 604 women have suffered blood loss incidents requiring transfusions, 418 women have suffered infections, and 75 women have had life-threatening infections. The FDA’s reporting system is seriously flawed, so these numbers are likely a lot higher.
Women who take these dangerous drugs can suffer severe bleeding, life-threatening infections, hemorrhages, incomplete abortions that require surgical intervention, or even death. Despite documenting and reporting these risks to the government, the FDA still approved chemical abortion pills in 2000 and removed most of the safeguards around the use of the drugs in 2016, 2021, and 2023. Women will continue to be harmed by chemical abortion pills, potentially even losing their lives, unless we take a stand now, which is why we need your help.
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FDA Removes Safety Precautions for Pregnant Women and Girls. On its initial approval, the FDA imposed several “black box” warnings and restrictions on taking chemical abortion pills. These restrictions were later codified as Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies, or “REMS”. The original REMS included: -
Limiting the drugs to pregnant women and girls who were around seven weeks gestation or earlier;
- Requiring three in-person office visits, including two visits for the drugs to be dispensed and administered in-person and a follow up visit 14 days after the pills were taken to confirm that the abortion was completed;
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Requiring the abortionist to be a licensed doctor who could intervene to treat serious complications; and
- Requiring the abortionist to report all “adverse events” to the FDA, meaning any significant health complications a woman experienced or if a woman died from the pills.
Many pro-life physicians, medical associations, and advocacy groups such as Americans United for Life, filed petitions against the approval and deregulation of chemical abortion pills and highlighted the dangers these drugs pose to women. Yet the FDA removed several critical safeguards in 2016, and even more in 2021 and 2023, all to the detriment of women’s health and safety. |
Chemical abortion pills can be prescribed even by non-doctors to women up to 10 weeks pregnant with no in-person meeting requirement.
Now, abortionists do not have to report non-fatal complications; they only have to report if a woman has died. And chemical abortion drugs can be mailed to pregnant women and girls in direct violation of federal law. In other words, an abortionist can prescribe a woman dangerous chemical abortion pills without ever laying eyes on her and without providing her necessary follow-up care to ensure she does not suffer life-threatening complications. As a result, women are delivering their own babies into their toilets or bathtubs, left to suffer alone and without care. Or they find themselves in the ER because they are experiencing complications from taking the drugs, requiring some women to undergo additional surgical abortion procedures or extensive medical treatments.
Almost NO Accountability for Abortionists who Harm Women!
The removal of the REMs endangers the welfare of every pregnant woman and girl who takes chemical abortion pills. Telehealth abortionists who prescribe chemical abortion pills by mail have not confirmed the age or location of the unborn child. Yet, the health risks of a chemical abortion exponentially increase the further along a woman is in her pregnancy, and ectopic pregnancy presents a life-threatening scenario that is a contraindication for a chemical abortion.
The Trump Administration gives us the opportunity to call on the FDA to reinstate necessary safety precautions for women seeking chemical abortion pills. It is imperative that the FDA hears your concerns! Click here to sign the petition and share with your friends and family. Let your voice be heard!
For Life, Americans United for Life |
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