By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
April 28, 2023
It’s been a week since the Supreme Court ruled that full access to the abortion pill mifepristone can continue, but the battle to protect women and the unborn from the dangerous drug is not over, as a lawsuit in Texas works its way through the lower federal courts.
While abortion-pushers see the drug as a quick and easy way to peddle their service, studies show underlying problems with the pill and highlight the need for more restrictions.
“Significant morbidity and mortality have occurred following the use of mifepristone as an abortifacient. A pre-abortion ultrasound should be required to rule out ectopic pregnancy and confirm gestational age,” concluded a study published in the 2021 edition of Law Med. “The Food and Drug Administration’s Adverse Event Reports system is inadequate and significantly underestimates the adverse events from mifepristone.”
“The decision to prevent the FDA from enforcing Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) during the COVID-19 pandemic needs to be reversed and REMS must be strengthened,” researchers added.
Earlier this month, Amarillo-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended the FDA approval of mifepristone, ruling that the agency “acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns — in violation of its statutory duty — based on plainly unsound reasoning.”
His ruling revealed the FDA’s error in approving the drug two decades ago and also relaxing restrictions on the pill in 2016 and again in 2022.
But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay that halted parts of Kacsmaryk’s ruling leaving in place limits that made the drug available for use up to seven weeks of pregnancy, versus 10 weeks and kept it from being prescribed by telehealth or mailed. The Department of Justice asked the High Court to step in, which led to last week’s ruling, staying the entire order and sending the case back to the Fifth Circuit.
This means places like Planned Parenthood can continue handing out mifepristone, and the abortion industry can continue to push the pills with little concern for the lives they ruin. More than half of all abortions today are so-called medical abortions, meaning they are done with chemicals rather than surgery.
Vincent DiCaro, chief outreach officer for CareNet, points out the far-reaching effects of this shift.
“Women are now more isolated than ever, making hasty and desperate decisions about how to deal with their unplanned pregnancies… and then carrying out abortions in their own bathrooms,” he wrote in a recent email. “Can you imagine the trauma a woman might experience if she sees her unborn child on her bathroom floor after taking abortion pills? Depending on how many weeks pregnant she is, she may see arms, legs, and other body parts. A tiny, still face. What does she do with her baby after the procedure’s over? We know the abortion industry isn’t asking these questions, but we are… because every mother, father, and unborn child has the dignity that comes from being made in God’s image.”
Despite the constant claims of abortion supporters, “abortion has never been between ‘a woman and her doctor,’” DiCaro says. “When surgical abortions take place, it’s between a woman and the multi-billion dollar abortion industry. But now, with the emergence of abortion pills by mail, abortion is often between ‘a woman and an anonymous phone call.’”
North Carolina lawmakers have tried to limit the harm done by mifepristone by requiring that the pill must be dispensed in person after a 72-hour waiting period and only after patients receive state-mandated counseling and in some cases an ultrasound. But those rules are being challenged by a lawsuit, and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced in February that he would not defend the state restrictions, after which House and Senate leaders filed a motion to take part in the suit.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled last month that Speaker Tim Moore and President Pro Tempore Phil Berger will be allowed to enter the case to defend the laws. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys are helping with the case.
“The upending of Roe v. Wade was certainly a victory, but the fight for the unborn and for their parents is far from over,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “We pray for justice from the courts, that judges’ eyes would be opened to the harm that the abortion industry wreaks on this country. Even as the legal battles rage, let us be ever seeking ways to better support women who find themselves in difficult circumstances, so that abortion is not even a consideration.”
