{"id":245355,"date":"2021-05-18T09:42:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T14:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=245355"},"modified":"2021-05-16T22:13:41","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T03:13:41","slug":"pro-life-concerns-chemical-abortions-reasonable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-concerns-chemical-abortions-reasonable\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-life concerns about chemical abortions are reasonable, not hypocritical"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(National Review<\/a>)\u00a0On Thursday, the New York Times<\/em> published a guest essay from feminist writer Jessica Valenti entitled \u201cThe Anti-Abortion Movement Can\u2019t Use This Myth Anymore.\u201d Valenti applauds the FDA\u2019s new policy of allowing women to obtain chemical abortions without a doctor\u2019s visit for the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic. She is confident that expanded access to chemical abortion drugs will provide ample evidence of their safety. As such, if the safety of chemical abortions is well documented, Valenti argues that future pro-life efforts to limit access to chemical drugs in the name of protecting women\u2019s health can be easily dismissed as hypocritical.<\/p>\n

In her essay, Valenti exudes plenty of confidence, but provides readers with precious little evidence to support her position. She confidently states that chemical abortions are \u201csafer than over the counter ibuprofen.\u201d She cites one study which appeared in the journal Contraception<\/em> in 2012. However, a 2015 study that appeared in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology<\/em>, which used comprehensive data from California\u2019s Medicaid program, found that chemical abortions had four times the complication rate of first-trimester surgical abortions. Additionally, as of 2018, the FDA has attributed 24 deaths and over 4,000 adverse events to chemical-abortion pills. Since abortion reporting requirements in the United States are weak, the actual numbers are likely higher.<\/p>\n

Valenti goes on to say telehealth chemical abortions are safe. However, Valenti fails to cite a single study to back up her assertion. Furthermore, the existing research provides little evidence of the safety of telehealth abortions. A February BJOG: <\/em>An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology<\/em> study failed to property separate women who obtained telehealth abortion from women who obtained abortions under medical supervision. Furthermore, a March 2021 Contraception<\/em> study found that within a month of the abortion, 6 percent of women who had telemed abortions made visits to emergency rooms or urgent-care centers for reasons related to the abortion. Other research shows that the emergency-room visit rate for abortion-related reasons is about 2.6 percent.<\/p>\n