(The Daily Signal)—Pro-life doctors are urging the Food and Drug Administration to reinstate abortion pill guardrails stripped during the Biden administration. Four years after Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion rates are higher than ever because these safeguards are no longer in place.
It’s not just babies dying from abortions; mothers’ lives are at risk from the FDA-approved abortion pill mifepristone.
In a letter obtained by The Daily Signal, four doctors, representing tens of thousands of pro-life medical professionals from across the country, urge Acting Commissioner of the FDA Kyle Diamantas to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement once needed to get a prescription for the abortion pill. During COVID, the Biden administration stripped this requirement, leading to a “public health crisis.”
New data shows that serious complication rates are far higher than previously disclosed on FDA labeling. Life-threatening complications include hemorrhage, sepsis, and incomplete abortions requiring surgical intervention.
“We are grateful to see a full safety review has been launched, and simultaneously with this review being conducted, ask that the in-person dispensing requirement be immediately reinstated,” reads the letter. “With your ascendence into the role of Acting Commissioner of the FDA, we urge you to protect American women and undo the FDA’s previous devastating actions.”
Diamantas has received support from pro-life groups. Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins told The Daily Signal that Diamantas promised he will be the “most pro-life FDA commissioner that the FDA has ever had.”
Within hours of his recent FDA appointment, he called Live Action President Lila Rose and told her “reviewing the abortion pill is a top priority for him and the administration,” Rose said on X.
He was appointed over a month ago but has made little news on the promise.
The letter continues, asking Diamantas to require doctors report all “adverse events” of mifepristone, include a comprehensive evaluation of real-world safety data in the safety review of the drug, ensure the safety review is unbiased, and require ultrasounds to confirm gestational age.
Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), recently released an exposé video revealing the medical risks of ordering abortion pills online and the medical risks that follow. She says that they “found no medical oversight whatsoever.”
According to the letter, signed by Francis; Dr. Greg Burke, the vice president of the Catholic Medical Association; Dr. Mike Chupp, CEO of the Christian Medical and Dental Association; and Dr. Mike Artigues, president of the American College of Pediatricians, mifepristone is a life-threatening drug that often causes serious complications.
Between 2017 and 2023, more than 860,000 adverse events came after 45 days of using mifepristone. Of the adverse events, more than 10% experienced severe complications, including infection, hemorrhage, surgical intervention, or undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy.
Based on their research, and the lack of safety reviews conducted on mifepristone, the risks surrounding the “safer than Tylenol” drug are 22 times higher than previously disclosed.
“Such blatant disregard for the health and safety of women and willful ignorance of what is occurring in emergency departments across the country undermines informed consent and public trust,” reads the letter. “Claims that mifepristone is ‘safer than Tylenol’ are not only scientifically unfounded but also violate FDA guidelines on comparative safety claims.”
