The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Thursday that it will permanently allow women to obtain the abortion pill by mail, doing away with the “in-person dispensing requirement” for the pill that was in effect for 20 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “abortion pill” involves two drugs – mifepristone and misoprostol – that are taken within a few days of each other to cause a pregnant woman to have an early miscarriage.

The first drug, mifepristone, “works to deprive the woman of the essential pregnancy hormone progesterone, which usually results in the death of the preborn baby.”

Then, 24-48 hours later, the woman takes the second drug, misoprostol, to expel the now-dead preborn baby from the woman’s womb. The second drug “causes uterine contractions resulting in an unnatural miscarriage.”

On December 16, 2021, the FDA announced that that it was modifying the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for mifepristone in order “to reduce burden on patient access and the health care delivery system and to ensure the benefits of the product outweigh the risks.”

The FDA said the modification consists of:

  • Removing the requirement that mifepristone be dispensed only in certain healthcare settings, specifically clinics, medical offices, and hospitals (referred to as the “in-person dispensing requirement”).
  • Adding a requirement that pharmacies that dispense the drug be certified.

Though the FDA asserts that the move will help women by ensuring “the benefits of the product outweigh the risks,” the exact opposite is true.

Indeed, the FDA has attached the REMS to mifepristone precisely because it is a dangerous drug. And making it more easily accessible will harm many of the women who decide to have a chemical abortion, not to mention the preborn babies who will die as a result.

“Of the 20,000 medications approved by the FDA, there are only 57 drugs considered dangerous enough to have a REMS designation,” The Daily Citizen has previously noted. And mifepristone is one of them.

“Common complications from a chemical abortion includes pain, bleeding, nausea, vomiting diarrhea, chills and fever, with severe complications including hemorrhaging, infection/sepsis, incomplete abortion, uterus rupture and death.”

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly issued a statement in reaction to the FDA’s decision.

“The FDA’s authorization of abortion pills by mail is a heartbreaking turn for an agency originally created in order to protect the health and safety of Americans,” Daly said. “In announcing this decision, the agency is blatantly derelict in its duty and overseeing the destruction and not the preservation of innocent human life.”

Additionally, Melanie Israel, policy analyst in The Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, issued a statement warning about the consequences of the FDA’s change.

“Today’s action makes dangerous abortion pills widely available through telemedicine and by mail, despite a decades-long track record of these drugs seriously harming women,” Israel said. “Since 2000, these pills have been associated with the deaths of 26 women and thousands of serious adverse effects in patients.”

The FDA’s decision to permanently end the “in-person dispensing requirement” is a culmination of a nearly two-year-long push by pro-abortion groups to expand access to the abortion pill.

Chemical abortions have become an increasingly utilized method for women looking to kill their preborn baby, with nearly 40% of all abortions done via the abortion pill.

After the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, pro-abortion groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the FDA over the “in-person dispensing requirement.”

A federal judge ordered the FDA to lift the requirements, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that ruling and decided in early 2020 to allow the FDA to reinstate the requirements.

But following the inauguration of the new administration in January, the FDA reversed course and suspended the requirement for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the rule’s suspension is permanent.

With the onset of telemedicine appointments, combined with the FDA’s decision to allow women to obtain the abortion pill by mail, many women will abort their preborn babies without ever seeing someone in-person. They’ll be able to abort their baby quietly, with the help of dangerous drugs, and then left to deal with the consequences all alone.

The FDA’s decision on Thursday will only exacerbate this problem, harming the very women the agency is claiming to help.

Women deserve better.

Some women, after taking the first abortion pill (mifepristone) come to regret their decision. Thankfully, there is a way to reverse the pill’s effects if prompt action is taken.

To learn more about the abortion pill reversal protocol, visit abortionpillreversal.com or call 1-877-558-0333 to be connected with a medical professional who can guide callers through the process of reversing the pill’s effects.

Additionally, if you’re struggling and need a listening ear, Focus on the Family offers a free, one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. To request a counseling consultation, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) or fill out our Counseling Consultation Request Form.

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Complications from the Abortion Pill(s)

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