The abortion industry is determined to ensure it can still sell abortions in pro-life states — and anywhere it can. This would require the lifting of safety protocols that had been in place on the abortion pill since it was approved for use in the United States more than two decades ago. As the Dobbs case was in the hands of the Supreme Court in December 2021, the FDA decided to weaken the abortion pill’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) safety protocols and permanently allow the abortion pill to be shipped by mail. Abortion advocates quickly revealed the next part of their strategy to expand abortion — allowing for the sale of over-the-counter abortion pills.
The day after the FDA decision, former NARAL board member Renee Bracey Sherman and abortionist Daniel Grossman wrote an op-ed for The Nation, in which they openly advocated for over-the-counter abortion.
Bracey and Grossman wrote, “… advocates and health care providers in the United States could be thinking creatively about what might come next, including providing abortion pills even before you’re pregnant to have on hand if needed — or eventually over-the-counter access.”
To gain support, the lie that the abortion pill is “safe” had to be spread, and the bold claim was made that the abortion pill is “safer than Tylenol” (acetaminophen). Spoiler alert — it’s not.
As previously reported by Live Action News, a 2016 study examined trends in acetaminophen-related adverse events, and tracked the rate of annual ER visits relative to acetaminophen’s annual sales. It found that, for the year 2012, there were 282.1 acetaminophen-related ER visits for every 1 (one) million units sold. Assuming that the usual dosage is two tablets, it would mean that .056% of doses sold resulted in a hospital visit.
Numerous studies have shown that the rate at which women seek emergency medical care after taking the abortion pill is approximately six percent (6%). That’s 107 times greater than the rate for acetaminophen/Tylenol.
Also — remember Hamilton’s story? After three doses of misoprostol (the second drug in the abortion pill regimen), he found his wife heavily bleeding and unconscious on the bathroom floor. He used this traumatic situation to claim his wife was given poor treatment because of pro-life laws and to promote abortion — but his wife took one of the very drugs included in the so-called “safe” abortion pill regimen. The National Abortion Federation states that the abortion pill can cause excessive blood loss (hypovolemia), lightheadedness, dizziness, weakness, fatigue, and rapid heart rate (tachycardia), and that heavy blood loss occurs after misoprostol is taken. The trauma that Hamilton and his wife endured is the same trauma that women being sold the abortion pill can experience — but they are told it is completely safe for them to take it at home, alone, without a physical exam.
Women sold the abortion pill without a doctor’s visit are also at increased risk for dangerous effects of mifepristone — the first drug of the abortion pill regimen. The online abortion pill website Hey Jane explains on its website:
Since Hey Jane does not require blood tests or ultrasounds:
- Your risk for an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy (a pregnancy outside the uterus) may be increased. Ectopic pregnancies are very rare.
- “It is possible that your pregnancy dating (how far along you are in your pregnancy) could be inaccurate. Taking the abortion pills later in your pregnancy is not unsafe; however, you can have more bleeding or the treatment may not work.
An undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy puts women at risk of fallopian tube rupture, and incomplete abortion puts women at greater risk of infection, both of which can be deadly.
There is nothing about online or over-the-counter abortion pill sales that is good for women — such sales only benefit abortion industry bank accounts.
While claiming the abortion pill is safe, abortion advocates are also pushing the lie that Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) is not safe. APR can help a woman arrest the abortion pill process and save her baby, if she begins the process after taking the first drug of the abortion pill regimen — mifepristone. Mifepristone counteracts the naturally occurring pregnancy hormone progesterone, which helps sustain the pregnancy and ensures the baby is nourished and receiving oxygen. Through APR, progesterone injections or tablets are used to try to counteract the effects of mifepristone and save the baby.
Abortion advocates claim APR is not proven to be safe, however, progesterone has been used for decades to prevent miscarriage in women who have a history of early pregnancy loss.
“What we are offering women is a bioidentical hormone… safely given to women since the 1950s,” Christa Brown, BSN, RN, and senior director of medical impact with Heartbeat International, explained. “It’s commonly given for other things like recurrent miscarriage or preterm labor. It’s a very common hormone given to women. And it’s not progestin, which is what is in hormonal birth control. This is a bioidentical type of progesterone. So, it’s very safe for the moms and it’s also safe for the babies.”
Still, California filed a lawsuit to prevent Heartbeat International from advertising APR as “safe and effective.”
