Abortion Pill Center of the Post-Roe Abortion Debate

After the fall of Roe, abortion has become a deeply contested issue across the states, and medication abortion is one of the main topics at the center of the debate. Across the country is a series of related cases concerning “the abortion pill.”

Why is the abortion pill so important to abortion advocates? Because that’s where the money is.

Why is the abortion pill debate so important to the pro-life community? Because it is how the highest number of preborn lives are taken.

According to the CDC’s latest abortion statistics, “[f]rom 2019 to 2020, the number of abortions decreased 2%.” And from “2011 to 2020, the number . . . of reported abortions decreased 15%.” However, “[i]n 2020, 51.0% of all abortions were early medical abortions,” which is an increase of “22% from 2019 to 2020, and 154% from 2011 to 2020.” Finally, “[n]early all abortions in 2020 took place early in gestation: 93.1% of abortions were performed at ≤13 weeks’ gestation.”

Abortion advocates are well aware of these numbers and have doubled down on their efforts to expand and protect medication abortion – also known as the abortion pill. They claim (as does the FDA) that the pill is “safe and effective.”

First, let me point out that the abortion pill will never be safe. No drug considered “effective” when taking the life of an innocent human being can ever be “safe.” Even aside from the obvious danger it poses to preborn children, the abortion pill is dangerous for women.

Also, the abortion pill is not “effective” nearly 25% of the time it is used. Complications from the administration of the pill include but are not limited to ruptured ectopic pregnancies, hemorrhaging, infection, and retained fetal or other tissue, which require surgery in as many as 1 in 20 women. These complications occurred during a time when the abortion pill was more heavily regulated; thus, a decrease in regulation will presumably lead to more complications.

As you’ll recall, the efforts to expand medication abortions have been going on for many years, as has the ACLJ’s opposition to these efforts. In 2020, 21 pro-abortion attorneys general, led by current HHS Secretary Becerra, tried to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to increase access to the abortion pill by encouraging the FDA to relax its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) drug safety program to regulate medications with serious safety concerns. The ACLJ opposed this effort with its own letter to HHS, and the Trump Administration stood by the REMS program, keeping the protocol in place.

However, once the Biden Administration took over, the FDA relaxed the REMS program by removing the in-person visit and ultrasound requirement, allowing the abortion pill to be dispensed by mail with no ultrasound to verify the gestation of the baby, thus increasing the danger to women and babies.

But abortion advocates do not care about the danger to women, and they certainly do not care about the danger to preborn babies – and they are willing to bulldoze anyone who stands in their way.

For example, in California, the Governor has announced that the state will cease to do business with Walgreens because it recently stated that it would follow the law in pro-life states and not supply the abortion pill in those specific states, but it would do so in states where the pill is legal. This decision on the part of Walgreens was the result of a letter from 20 state attorneys general sending a letter to Walgreens and CVS, telling them that distribution of the abortion pill through the mail is both unsafe and illegal, and they would pursue legal action. Those manufacturers or pharmacies that distribute the pill in violation of state law may indeed face legal consequences.

On the flip side of that issue is the potential for pharmacists employed by distributors to face unconstitutional pressure to dispense the abortion pill in violation of their conscience and religious beliefs. This will increasingly be an issue in states like California, New York, New Mexico, and Colorado, which are all fighting aggressively not only to expand abortion but also to target and run out pro-life opposition.

California’s decision to cease doing business with Walgreens is a perfect example of how abortion-crazed the Left has become. Walgreens has never before provided the abortion pill, yet it has done business successfully across the country. Because of the pharmacy chain’s decision not to supply the abortion pill in 20 states, California has stated it will cut all business ties with Walgreens, which affects people who rely on Walgreens for a whole host of medications.

In West Virginia, the manufacturers of the abortion pill, GenBioPro and Danco Labs, are suing the state, claiming that its restriction on abortion effectively has banned use of the abortion pill in that state.

Thankfully, numerous efforts are underway on the part of pro-life advocates – including the efforts of 20 pro-life state attorneys general who are seeking to protect life in their states by limiting access to the abortion pill.

For example, in Texas, a group of pro-life doctors is challenging the FDA’s regulation of the abortion pill, arguing that it inappropriately relaxed restrictions on the pill. Washington state, on the other hand, is suing the FDA, claiming that its regulation of the abortion pill is inappropriate, too strict, and should be relaxed.

In Wyoming, the Governor recently signed into law an outright ban on the abortion pill, becoming the first state to implement such a ban. However, in Colorado, abortion activists are pushing a bill that would jeopardize the medical licenses of doctors who work with patients by prescribing progesterone (the abortion reversal pill).

A lot is changing very rapidly across the nation in the battle to protect innocent human life. If you find yourself in the crosshairs of the radical abortion agenda, whether you are a medical provider pushed to provide abortion or a Pregnancy Resource Center being targeted and silenced by pro-abortion advocates – contact us. Let us see how we can help.

We must stand together now – more than ever – to protect the most vulnerable and innocent of all.