President Biden is bringing to bear the full institutional power of the federal government to promote access to dangerous chemical abortion pills.
A White House memo released on Sunday directed the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and Attorney General Merrick Garland to issue guidance telling patients and pharmacies how they can obtain chemical abortion pills in states where abortion is either illegal or restricted. The president has also called on federal departments and agencies to draw up recommendations for removing “potential barriers” to abortion pill access.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) formally dropped the requirement that abortion pills be administered, in person, by qualified medical personnel. It also moved to allow pharmacies to fill prescriptions for the pill — a seismic change in policy that could soon turn your local pharmacy into an abortion pill dispensary.
Both changes endanger women’s health.
Abortion with pills involves taking two different drugs in succession. The first drug, mifepristone, typically kills the unborn child by blocking essential progesterone. The second drug, misoprostol, induces contractions to expel the unborn child from its mother’s womb. Both drugs carry risks.
The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000 but considered the drug’s risk profile so high as to warrant special heightened monitoring and risk management practices. The agency, therefore, established a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program — a strict protocol governing the administration of mifepristone.
To prescribe the drug, doctors had to meet special requirements. These
