Dozens of pro-life groups sent a letter to U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Monday urging him to protect women and babies from deadly chemical abortion and “reverse the DOJ’s harmful stance of siding with the abortion drug industry.”
The 78 signees, led by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, noted that “pro-life states cannot meaningfully enforce their laws when FDA is siding with mail-order abortionists and DOJ is siding with abortion drug manufacturers.”
Under the Biden administration, the FDA removed common-sense restrictions around mifepristone, such as requiring an in-person doctor’s visit before obtaining a prescription. The administration also ultimately leveraged the Covid-19 pandemic to make the dangerous drug widely available by mail.
Throughout the past year, the dangers of mifepristone have been in the public spotlight like never before, with a study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center finding the rate of dangerous adverse effects after taking the drug is 22 times higher than the FDA indicates.
The already deadly and dangerous pill is even more dangerous when it is widely available without common-sense safeguards, making it easily exploitable by bad actors seeking to harm women and babies. Throughout the year, multiple reports and allegations emerged of coercive men poisoning the mothers with abortion drugs and killing unborn babies.
Monday’s letter mentions three lawsuits filed by six pro-life states “demanding justice for their citizens harmed by FDA’s reckless abortion drug policies.” Among these states is Louisiana, which is joined in its lawsuit by plaintiff Rosalie Markezich. As The Federalist previously reported, Markezich’s boyfriend pressured her into taking an abortion drug that he obtained via mail-order “against her consent.”
Following the findings from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary assured the American public that HHS would review mifepristone, but they have yet to reinstate the restrictions stripped under Biden. As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd noted, “No review is required for the FDA to reinstate some of the common-sense abortion pill safeguards, such as an in-person doctor visit, that were stripped from the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) under President Joe Biden’s watch.” The concerns raised by the Ethics and Public Policy Center also did not stop the agency from approving a “copycat version” of mifepristone last year.
“Despite firm commitments from HHS Secretary Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Makary to conduct a thorough safety review of abortion drugs, FDA subsequently expanded the availability of the abortion drug mifepristone by approving a new generic version last fall,” the Monday letter to Blanche reads.
What’s more, the Trump DOJ has sought to pause the aforementioned, potentially life-saving lawsuits from pro-life states, “pending” its review of mifepristone.
“Tragically, to date, this Department of Justice has downplayed the harms of mail-order abortion and called for each case to be paused or even dismissed entirely. Meanwhile, thousands of abortion drugs are being mailed all over the United States daily, even from overseas, with zero oversight,” the letter reads.
The American people recognize the need for intentional guardrails currently being slow-walked by the Trump administration. The Monday letter mentioned a recent poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, which found that “7 in 10 likely general election voters — including 57% of liberal voters — approve of requiring a doctor visit to receive a prescription for abortion drugs.”
Another poll conducted on behalf of the 85 Fund and reported by The Daily Wire last month yielded similar results, finding a large majority of likely voters — 67 percent — support “reinstating an in-person doctor visit requirement for accessing an abortion pill via the mail.”
“When abortion drugs are available through the mail, there is no accountability, state laws are made impotent, and women and girls are hurt. This is a harmful and politically dangerous path,” the letter concluded. “We urge the DOJ to stop siding with the abortion industry and stand with pro-life states and brave women like Rosalie.”
