Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and 19 other Republican senators and 71 House Representatives led by Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia called on U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn on Tuesday to remove a “deadly” abortion pill from U.S. markets.
They note the drug is responsible for taking “more than 3.7 million preborn lives, caused 24 maternal deaths, and resulted in at least 4,195 adverse maternal reactions including hemorrhage, excruciating abdominal pain, and severe life-threatening infections.” These harms, the letter notes, are often underreported.
“We believe this deadly pill should never have been approved, yet the abortion industry was politically rewarded with an accelerated approval process normally reserved for high-risk drugs that address life-threatening illnesses like AIDS. As you are surely aware, pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness, and the abortion pill does not cure or prevent any disease. Nevertheless, this pill that is specifically designed and intended to kill preborn children was raced to the market, with devastating consequences,” the letter says.
The group of senators requested that the specific pill, Mifeprex (mifepristone), be labeled as an “imminent hazard to the public health” to better reflect the dangers present in the FDA statistics such as the fact that “the abortion pill poses a four-times higher risk of complication than surgical abortion in the first trimester.”
“Indeed, by demedicalizing and deregulating the abortion pill, women will be left to engage in a form of ‘DIY’ chemical abortion, as the abortion industry collects payments, and as prescribers evade all legal risk and FDA oversight. This is unconscionable,” the letter says.
The letter also criticizes the “nakedly obvious” attempt by the “abortion industry and its allies in the media, billionaire philanthropic circles, and special interest groups” to put lives at risk by advocating for a deregulated abortion pill, due to the Clinton administration and a recent federal court removing regulatory practices meant to keep women safe.
“Based on the federal district court’s order eliminating the in-person requirements of the REMS, it is an open question as to whether women receiving the abortion pill via telemedicine will ever receive blood tests, ultrasounds, or the necessary screening to determine the actual date of her pregnancy or the potential occurrence of a deadly ectopic pregnancy,” the letter says.
The congressmen and congresswomen who signed the letter demand stronger action from the FDA to crack down on the “illegal trafficking of mail-order abortion pills into U.S. commerce by foreign companies,” to fight back against judicial overreach removing the Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy during COVID-19 which “imposes an undue burden on women’s rights,” and “insist on a serious examination of the ethical practices and FDA compliance of clinical trials like the TelAbortion project conducted by Gynuity—a research group associated with abortion giant Planned Parenthood.”
They also emphasize that Mifeprex poses a higher risk than any solutions to these problems could fix.
“While we support the FDA’s continued fight to defend the REMS, to monitor dangerous clinical studies, and to shut down illegal websites, these measures alone fail to protect the thousands of women harmed even by compliant usage of this drug – or the millions of children killed. To protect vulnerable women and children, we strongly urge the FDA to remove this deadly drug from the U.S. market and exercise its authority under 21 CFR § 2.5, declaring it an ‘imminent hazard to public health,'” the letter stressed.
