New documentary warns about danger of the abortion pill

Washington D.C., Jun 23, 2021 / 09:00 am (CNA).

A new documentary series warns about the dangers of chemical abortions, as the Biden Administration has recently removed restrictions on the abortion pill regimen during the pandemic.

In an “emergency broadcast” by pro-life organizations on Tuesday evening which introduced the series, the president of the group Students for Life, Kristan Hawkins, warned that deregulating the abortion pill regimen would lead to a “domino effect throughout America.”

Dr. Christina Francis, chairman of the board of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the lifting of the safety regulations would be “an absolute attack on women’s health in this country.”

Dr. Francis said that if the federal regulations on the abortion pill are lifted, the abortion pill could be available over-the-counter or on internet websites. The pro-life movement’s push for abortion regulations across the country would effectively be rendered “moot,” she said.

The documentary series premiered directly after the broadcast on Tuesday evening on thisischemicalabortion.com. The series was produced by Charlotte Pence Bond, daughter of former Vice President Mike Pence, and the groups Students for Life and Heartbeat International both partnered in the production.

The June 22 broadcast featured pro-life speakers, politicians, medical, and legal experts sharing information about the dangers of chemical abortion. They also discussed abortion pill reversal, and the Biden administration’s recent move to deregulate the abortion pill regimen.

Since the year 2000, the regimen has been listed on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) program, reserved for higher-risk drugs and procedures. As part of the REMS protocol, the regimen has to be prescribed and dispensed in-person, in a health clinic setting, by a certified prescriber.

In April, however, acting FDA commissioner Janet Woodcock announced that the administration would “exercise enforcement discretion” on the regimen during the COVID-19 public health emergency, allowing the protocol to be prescribed and dispensed remotely during the pandemic.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, expressed support for allowing the regimen to be prescribed remotely through telemedicine and dispensed through the mail or by mail-order pharmacies, beyond the pandemic, at his Feb. 23 confirmation hearing.

Hosted by the former CEO of 40 Days for Life, David Bereit, the 50-minute webcast on Tuesday focused on the consequences of the removal of the REMS procedures.

“This isn’t a bill that we can stop,” Hawkins said. “This is a mandate that’s coming down from President Biden’s administration.”

Tina Whittington, vice president of Students for Life, encouraged all viewers to sign a petition to the FDA to keep the safety regulations in place for chemical abortions. Signing the petition will hold back some of the “scourge” of mail-order abortions, Whittington said.

Dr. Brent Boles, the medical director at Heartbeat International, said that the abortion industry deceives people with faulty statistics about the abortion pill. He criticized the conclusion of former Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards in her 2018 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, that medication abortion is safer than taking Tylenol.

“If you want to make an accurate conclusion about abortion safety across the board, you have to have comprehensive and accurate statistics,” Boles said. “No such database exists in the United States.”

Boles said that only 28 states are required to report complications and deaths from abortion to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, “and there’s no enforcement mechanism in any of those 28 states that ensures compliance.” The other 22 states do not report deaths or complications from abortion at all, he said.

Denise Harle, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said the abortion industry was hypocritical in pushing to keep abortion clinics open during the pandemic as “essential” businesses, while advocating against the in-person requirements for abortion pill prescriptions.

Harle called out Becerra for his history of pushing for easy access to abortion pills as the former attorney general of California.

President of Heartbeat International, Jor-El Godsey, said the abortion industry has major incentives to promote mail-order abortion. Godsey said that the REMS protocol protected women so that they would be able to see a doctor and get evaluated before putting themselves at risk.

Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas) said that he has introduced new legislation which would withhold federal dollars from universities unless they certify they are not providing chemical abortions on campus.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) called the Biden administration’s de-regulation of the abortion pill “political theatre,” in a pre-recorded speech for the webcast.

“Why are doctors required for all other medical prescriptions to inform women about the potential risks but not when they prescribe chemical abortion drugs?” Miller asked.

Bereit advised viewers to call on members of Congress to hold the FDA accountable, and to share the series “with everyone you know.”