Take a pill; take a life

RICHARD A. SOKERKA

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (ISCCB) reacted quickly to the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis­tration (FDA) announcement that it would permanently lift its requirement that the prescription for the abortion drug mifepristone had to be picked up in person. This now allows clinics, medical offices, and hospitals to prescribe the drug via telemedicine and send it directly to the patient by mail or through a mail-order pharmacy.

“Every life is sacred: the lives of mothers and the lives of the unborn,” said Arch­bishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities. “Not only does this decision further the tragic taking of unborn lives but it also does little to care for the well-being of women in need.”

By no longer requiring the abortion drug to be picked up in person, the FDA is “merely succumbing to the abortion industry’s pressure to loosen safety standards,” instead of protecting the lives and health of mothers and children as it should do, said Archbishop Lori.

“Far from the accompaniment that women in crisis pregnancies deserve, this decision would leave women alone in the midst of trauma, often without any medical attention or follow-up care,” he said in a statement.

The FDA announcement continues the Biden Administration’s all-out assault on life in the womb. Previously, under the Biden administration, the FDA had temporarily lifted the in-person requirement amid the pandemic in April 2021.

“One of the essential tasks of governments is to safeguard the health and well­being of citizens,” but instead the FDA has loosened its health safety standards with its decision, Archbishop Lori said.

“I call on leaders of every level of government to stand with women in need by promoting policies that recognize the value and human dignity of both mother and child, rather than further promoting the devastating tragedy of abortion,” he said.

Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said, “The FDA knows the dangers of this abortion drug, but in the name of political expediency, has lifted the safety measure requiring an in-person doctor’s visit.” According to the National Right to Life Committee, the FDA “has a record of nearly two dozen deaths and thousands of complications associated with the use of the mifepristone/misoprostol abortion-drug combination.”

Melanie Israel, policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, called it “a surrender to the abortion industry’s demands” and said it “comes at the expense of women’s health and safety.”

Israel urged Congress and state lawmakers to “counteract the FDA’s decision” and protect life and women’s health “with new policies that prohibit telemedicine abortions, strengthen informed-consent requirements, and ensure stronger reporting requirements to better track complications.”

Since its inception, telemedicine for medication abortion has always posed serious risks to women’s health. Now, mailing it only furthers the culture of death for the child in the womb and the woman carrying that child.