President Donald Trump recently refused abortion activists’ pressure to expand access to abortion drugs during the coronavirus crisis.
Many states are delaying non-essential medical care to devote resources to the virus outbreak, but abortion facilities have been continuing their business as usual. Abortion activists insist that abortion are essential medical care, even though they destroy unborn babies’ lives and put mothers at risk.
Though many abortion facilities remain open, abortion activists are using the crisis to push for even more abortions through de-regulation. Recently, a number of abortion activists urged the Trump administration to allow mail-order and telemedicine abortions, according to Vice.
On Friday, Trump declared a national emergency and allowed for the expansion of telemedicine (meeting doctors over a webcam rather than in-person, when possible) to prevent further spread of the virus.
Abortion activists argued that he could do the same for abortions.
Here’s more from the report:
While telemedicine abortion specifically enables providers to prescribe abortion pills from a distance, longstanding federal regulations require that clinics dispense mifepristone, one of the two drugs commonly used together in medication abortions, in person—meaning the drugs can’t be picked up at a pharmacy or sent in the mail. An abortion patient can choose to take their medication at home, but they can’t get it without leaving their home. These federal rules prevent people from staying home and flattening the pandemic curve, an action that saves lives.
… During the COVID-19 pandemic, HHS Secretary Alex Azar could perhaps apply Trump’s telehealth mandate to medication abortion by directing the FDA to eliminate or relax its regulations, and allow pregnant people to consult with their providers virtually and obtain mifepristone via their pharmacy or in the mail. HHS’ press office didn’t respond to VICE’s requests for comment about encouraging the FDA to take action on mifepristone.
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But the goal is different. With basic telemedicine, the purpose is to save more lives; expanding telemedicine abortions would do the opposite. The Food and Drug Administration appeared to recognize this when it confirmed to Vice that abortion drugs will not be de-regulated because of the coronavirus.
“Certain restrictions, known as a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS), are necessary for mifepristone when used for medical termination of early pregnancy in order to ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh its risks,” its Office of Media Affairs told the pro-abortion news outlet.
Mifepristone is not safe for the mother or her unborn child. The abortion drugs have been linked to at least 24 women’s deaths and 4,000 serious complications. Additionally, the illegal, online sales of abortion drugs have been linked to forced abortions. A New York City woman is facing charges after she allegedly sold abortion drugs to a man accused of trying to force his girlfriend to take them.
Risks of mifepristone and misoprostol, the most common abortion drugs taken together to abort and then expel an unborn baby from the womb, include excessive bleeding, severe abdominal pain, infection, hemorrhage and death.
Right now, 18 states ban telemedicine abortions precisely because they are dangerous. Requiring that a woman meet with a doctor prior to the abortion can be life-saving. Women may learn information that changes their minds about their unborn babies, or the doctor may find health complications, such as an ectopic pregnancy, that could be deadly if the woman takes the drugs.
Pro-life advocates also have strong concerns that, without basic regulations in place, abortion drugs could be misused by abusive men who want to force women to abort their unborn babies.
