(JustPatriots.com)- On Wednesday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to restore federal regulations that ban the abortion pill from being given to patients without an in-person visit to the doctor’s office.
In July, a district court judge agreed with an American Civil Liberties Union request to allow the abortion pill to be taken by people at home without having medical supervision. Judge Theodore Chuang agree with the ACLU’s argument that requiring people to have an in-person visit with a doctor before doing so posed a “substantial obstacle” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Chuang made his ruling “particularly in light of the limited timeframe during which a medication abortion or any abortion must occur.”
The ACLU was seeking to allow patients to take mifepristone at home. It’s the first part of the abortion cocktail RU-486.
Following the ruling, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration appealed. The Department of Justice even called on the Supreme Court to rule on the temporary suspension immediately.
As the DOJ said in a statement:
“By suspending enforcement of the safety requirements on a nationwide basis, the district court has irreparably harmed both the government and the public more generally. Even if the FDA ultimately prevails on the merits, the risks to patients, and any harms that materialize, cannot be undone. Those costs outweigh any burdens associated with a one-time clinic visit to receive a drug that is merely one means of obtaining an abortion.”
Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, lambasted Chuang’s ruling, saying:
“We shouldn’t have to go to court to defend health and safety standards endorsed by the FDA so that women won’t die or be harmed by chemical abortion pills, but here we are again in court, thanks in part to the ACLU. The Trump Administration’s protective petition represents just what Pro-Life Americans expect from their government — a commitment to mothers and their children, born and preborn.”
Other pro-life groups are taking the fight one step further. They have sent a letter to Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the FDA, calling for the outright ban of the abortion pill.
The letter reads:
“This lethal drug that the FDA permits for killing innocent preborn children during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy is also highly dangerous for women. According to the FDA’s adverse event reporting system, the abortion pill has resulted in over 4,000 reported adverse events since 2000, including 24 maternal deaths. Adverse events are notoriously underreported to the FDA, and as of 2016, the FDA only requires abortion pill manufacturers to report maternal deaths.
“Manufacturers gather this information from the prescribers, such as Planned Parenthood facilities. Yet, women who experience side effects like heavy bleeding, abdominal pain, or severe infections are likely to seek care at emergency rooms, not the abortion facilities where they received the pills. Since emergency rooms are not required to report abortion pill adverse events to the FDA, the true number of adverse events is impossible to assess.”
