Just a few months into his presidency, Joe Biden unraveled federal protections for pregnant mothers and preborn children. On April 13, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the chemical abortion regimen can be administered entirely at home to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Although this measure was purportedly a temporary pandemic measure, there were good reasons to suspect the FDA would not reinstate the in-person requirements. Last Friday, the FDA hinted that this suspicion is correct.
The “abortion pill” is actually a combination of two pills. The first pill, mifepristone, binds with the progesterone receptors in the uterus, antagonizing the effects of progesterone and killing the preborn child. Misoprostol, the second pill, induces contractions, expelling the baby’s body.
Under current FDA regulations, the pregnant mother must ingest mifepristone at a clinic in the presence of a physician. Within the next two days, she takes the misoprostol at home. This in-person requirement, part of the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, is vital for the pregnant mother’s health, allowing the abortionist to examine the woman for ectopic pregnancy, Rh incompatibility, or any other condition that contraindicates the abortion pill regimen—the presence of an innocent human life notwithstanding.
Even with this initial supervision, pregnant mothers have experienced adverse physical effects from using the abortion pill regimen. Since 2000, 1042 women have been hospitalized and at least 24 more have died just in the United States, according to 2018 data released by the FDA.
Chemical abortion is also twice as dangerous for the pregnant mother than surgical abortion. And, of course, both chemical abortion and surgical abortion are equally deadly for the baby in utero, who is merely an afterthought for the politicians and bureaucrats who promote abortion.
Despite this, the FDA, under the Biden Administration, decided in April that the safety protocols requiring the pregnant mother to take the first pill in person are needlessly burdensome during the pandemic.
Never mind that abortion facilities aren’t a significant source of COVID-19 spread. Never mind that we were already 13 months into the pandemic, and chemical abortion had theretofore not been a COVID-19 issue. Never mind that the FDA suspended a COVID-19 vaccine on the same day for blood clots with a correlating occurrence of less than 1 in 1,000,000.
Earlier in the pandemic, a federal district court judge attempted to suspend the commonsense protocols for chemical abortion, but the Supreme Court of the United States ultimately halted this move.
The most recent decision means that now, during the pandemic, women can get these life-ending drugs via the mail. Yet, Biden’s presence in the Oval Office means this decision is likely permanent.
On the campaign trail, Biden promised fanatic pursuit of pro-abortion policies. Temporary measures will not appease him or his base. Easing access to chemical abortion remains a priority for the abortion industry.
All of this is to say that COVID-19 is a pretextual justification for the Biden Administration’s true aim: eroding chemical abortion federal regulations permanently. Then, last Friday, the FDA signaled this suspicion might very well be true.
In a court filing, the FDA quietly indicated that they are reviewing the regulations for chemical abortion long term. The ACLU celebrated this announcement, which they would not do if they expected the FDA to maintain the chemical abortion regulations after the pandemic officially ends.
Fortunately, Texas can regulate chemical abortions apart from the FDA. Pregnant mothers must still give informed consent in person 24 hours before the abortion. They must still receive a copy of A Woman’s Right to Know and undergo an ultrasound. The abortionist must still examine the pregnant woman to determine the preborn child’s age and location. He must also schedule a follow-up visit to examine for complications. The FDA’s decision has less of an impact on Texas, but there is still more protection that can be implemented for Texas pregnant mothers.
What the FDA’s decision does show is how tenuous Texas’s reliance is on federal statutes. Senate Bill 394 authored by Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. (D-Brownsville) and sponsored by Chairwoman Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth) would strengthen our protections regulating chemical abortion and is a smart step to counteract the mindless anti-Life policies of the Biden Administration.
Where the federal government fails, Texas must lead.
Find more information on those bills and our Pro-Life priority bills here: https://texasrighttolife.com/legislation/