The recently released National Right to Life League’s 2022 State of Abortion report delivers a concise look at today’s abortion landscape as compared to the past, recent legislative events, and the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade. According to Carol Tobias, NRLC’s President, this report “is not just a snapshot of where we are as the nation observes the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe. v. Bolton, but also a blueprint for how we move forward to build a culture that values life and respects mothers and their children.” The report also provides an analysis of the worrying uptick in abortions, especially chemical abortions and the implications of the changes in regulations.
Chemical Abortion Pill Regulations Dropped
According to the report, the FDA has permanently modified the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for mifepristone, allowing women to receive the chemical abortion pills through the mail without a medical exam. Due to the fierce lobbying of Planned Parenthood during the pandemic the regulations were initially suspended temporarily in July of 2020, but in December 2021 the suspension was made permanent.
Abortion advocates have been pressuring the FDA to drop the safety regulations by peddling the fantasy that chemical abortions are an “easy,” “safe,” “simple” alternative to surgical methods. Jex Blackmore, a pro-abortion advocate claiming to be pregnant, even went to the extreme of taking an abortion pill on live television to prove its safety. However the reality is that chemical abortions are still abortions, and they are still bloody, arduous and painful.
Risks to Women’s Health and Safety
Due to the dangers involved, when the FDA initially approved the abortion pill in 2000 there were regulations stipulating that the pills had to be taken in a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office. The pills also had to be taken under supervision of a certified physician. The recent changes in regulations allowing chemical abortion pills to be available via telemedicine come with a great deal of risk to the women taking them. Without an ultrasound or physical examination to rule out ectopic pregnancy and to determine an accurate gestational age, these women are being put at risk of bleeding, getting an infection, having an incomplete passage, and even death.
Abortion Numbers Projected to Increase
Easy access to the abortion pill threatens to reverse the sustained decline in abortions we have experienced over the last three decades. The number of chemical abortions has been steadily growing and has even accelerated over the last few years. Latest CDC figures show that chemical abortions account for almost half of all abortions. The trend is especially pronounced in California; a recent study by the University of California San Francisco suggests that 20% of all chemical abortions in the nation occur in California. These numbers are likely to increase given the heavy publicity of telemedicine by abortion groups. As described by Blackmore herself, “With medical mail order abortion, we’ve actually expanded access more than ever before.”