The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Friday to temporarily keep a dangerous abortion drug on the market in states without strong Pro-Life laws.
While this does not affect Texas because preborn children are already legally protected from elective abortion, Friday’s ruling prevents the nationwide life-saving impact that could have happened through this early stage of the lawsuit.
Two weeks ago, a Texas judge effectively revoked FDA approval of mifepristone, a pill used to cause abortions. The judge condemned the FDA for rushing through its usual approval process and waiving its own safety guidelines and protective measures in order to push more abortions within the last 20 years. The Biden administration appealed the decision to a higher court and then to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The FDA exists to protect Americans from dangerous drugs, yet numerous pro-abortion presidents used the agency as a political tool to promote elective abortion at the expense of pregnant women and their preborn children,” Texas Right to Life President Dr. John Seago responded. “We are disappointed the Supreme Court chose to maintain the dangerous status quo during the rest of this lawsuit, but we look forward to the circuit court fully reviewing the strong case made against the FDA.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of two drugs in 2000 to cause chemical abortions. The first drug, mifepristone, kills the preborn child by starving him or her to death, while the second, misoprostol, causes the woman to deliver the deceased baby. Under President Obama in 2016, the FDA approved the abortion pills for use later in pregnancy, from seven weeks to 10 weeks, despite the increased risk of complications. In 2021, the Biden-led FDA removed the requirement for pregnant women to visit a doctor in person in order to determine the age of the preborn child and examine the mother for ectopic pregnancy, Rh incompatibility, or other conditions that contraindicate the abortion pill regimen.
Chemical abortions are committed early in pregnancies and have become the primary procedure for abortion nationally.
Every abortion ends the life of the innocent preborn child, and chemical abortion is additionally dangerous for the pregnant mother. Studies show that 1 in 5 women experience an adverse event following a chemical abortion, the rate of complications for chemical abortions are four times higher than surgical abortions, and they require follow-up surgical abortion in 3-8% of cases. This type of abortion takes much longer and involves more bleeding and pain, and complications increase exponentially with the baby’s increasing gestational age.
Unfortunately, with this ruling, the Supreme Court has condoned the FDA’s overstep of its regulatory authority, to the detriment and danger of American pregnant women and preborn children. Its ruling had the potential to remove mifepristone from the market when used for elective abortion, protecting innocent human lives across the country. However, regardless of this decision, elective abortion is prohibited in Texas from the moment of fertilization and remains so, including the use of abortion pills.
Texas Right to Life will continue working in the Texas Legislature to stop dangerous new trends like anti-Life groups sending abortion drugs illegally through the mail or trafficking them over our southern border. Texas Right to Life is also spearheading efforts to increase resources for pregnant women and families, such as making adoption affordable, removing barriers for student parents at universities, and funding Alternatives to Abortion.