OPINION:
When you think about a young woman undergoing an abortion, what picture is painted in your head? Usually, we think of a woman walking into a Planned Parenthood alone, sitting down with an abortionist and undergoing a procedure to end the life of her child.
Subscribe to have The Washington Times’ Higher Ground delivered to your inbox every Sunday.
But what if I told you that is not the primary picture of abortions in America today? In fact, despite all the previous protests from abortion activists insisting abortions be allowed and performed in facilities, the brick-and-mortar abortion center has taken a back seat. Remember their slogan, abortions must be “safe, legal, rare?”
We have seen a complete reversal in that mindset. Today, most abortions in America are encouraged to be “self-managed” by a young woman at her house, alone, taking five drugs over several days. These drugs induce labor and force a miscarriage, and she then passes her child and placenta into her toilet.
This is the current landscape of abortion in America. Nothing is empowering or safe about it. Today, this crisis of abortion drug proliferation has been exacerbated by the Biden administration, leading to a Supreme Court case, FDA v. AHM, that is being heard this week.
Many people don’t realize that under the guise of COVID-19, the Biden administration’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed the need for any in-person medical visits to purchase and take abortion drugs. Not only that, but they also don’t even require interaction with a doctor online to receive these drugs. And in 2022, after the height of COVID-19, they made online abortion drug purchases a permanent policy.
As OB-GYN Dr. Christina Francis explains, the abortion industry’s push for “telehealth” visits for abortion drugs aren’t what Americans might picture: “The vast majority of these websites…[people] get online, they fill out a form, and then the pills are shipped to them. And so there really is no interaction, they’re not being screened for intimate partner violence…or is this a trafficker who’s getting online and ordering these [drugs] in droves, so that he can force abortions on his victims.”
It’s only been three years since mail-order abortions were allowed but we’re starting to see horror stories pop up of women who took the drugs and suffered. I’ve spoken with many women who operated under the previous rules and bought the drugs at the abortion facility but finished the multi-drug regimen at home and they were disturbed to hear that these drugs are now shipped.
I heard from one woman, Elizabeth Gilette, who now suffers PTSD from taking the abortion drugs after seeing her child in the toilet. She shares, “No matter how you feel about abortion … women like me exist. Women have found themselves on the bathroom floor just like me in pools of blood…I really hope through this process that the Supreme Court will understand that we are here and we are suffering.”
Whether you’re a doctor with ethical objections to abortion, a young woman seeking an abortion, or most certainly a baby in the womb, all groups are being harmed through the current mail-order abortion scheme.
Today’s case before the Supreme Court will highlight that. It will share how the FDA broke its own rules in allowing for mail-order abortion drugs. And how its own label for these abortion drugs says that roughly one in 25 women who take them will end up in the emergency room.
Another vital point is that women with ectopic pregnancies can be unduly harmed through mail-order abortions. Most of us know friends or family that have experienced a tragic ectopic pregnancy. I can remember when my best friend called me crying, writhing in pain and was rushed to the hospital due to her ectopic pregnancy. It was so scary but thankfully she had a reliable physician. Ectopic pregnancies feel so common because they are! They are one in 50 pregnancies in America.
SEE ALSO: Study finds mail-order abortion pills surged by nearly 30K after the end of Roe
And these abortion drugs cannot be used on a woman with an ectopic pregnancy or she could hemorrhage to death. Abortion drug sellers claim they can flag risks over the Internet, but half of women have no risk factors. The only way to adequately screen for ectopic is through an ultrasound. Not only that, the current FDA rules at least stipulate that these drugs are only to be used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. So, every woman must accurately confirm her child’s gestational age before she orders the abortion drugs, a task that demands medical precision.
Finally, we hear that there couldn’t possibly be an issue with abortion drugs or mail-order abortions because we would’ve seen stronger reports from the FDA about harm to women. But what they’re not telling you is that since 2016, the FDA has only tracked one negative side effect of the abortion drug mifepristone: death.
You read that right. The only adverse reaction that counts now is when women die.
I don’t need to tell you that a wide range of negative outcomes can occur from taking a drug between “healthy” and “dead.” Just listen to Dr. Ingrid Skop, a Texas OB-GYN, who’s delivered thousands of babies over three decades and has cared for at least a dozen women in the ER suffering from abortion drug complications. She says that the pro-abortion community and the FDA never consider the serious events her patients suffer, such as emergency surgeries to remove placentas or baby body parts remaining in the womb, bleeding for months, anemia, intrauterine infections and more.
That is not health care. That is politics being prioritized over the safety of women. As we wait to hear from the Supreme Court on this case, one thing rings true: you do not have to be for or against abortion to see that the Biden administration’s mail-order abortion scheme is harming young women and girls across this country. Together, in a bipartisan way, we should all be able to join in calling for an end to unsafe DIY abortions performed at home.
–
Emily Erin Davis is a published author and bilingual media professional, communicating in both English and Mandarin Chinese. Previously, she served as a global humanitarian and content creator, providing on-the-ground news and help. You may have seen her or read her words at USA Today, Newsweek, Fox News and more. She’s currently continuing her humanitarian work as the VP of Communications at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, as she fights for everyone’s fundamental right to life. As great as her career is, her most impactful roles are mom and wife.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.