{"id":326849,"date":"2025-02-24T15:55:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T21:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=326849"},"modified":"2025-02-24T07:24:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T13:24:26","slug":"pro-life-common-sense-transparency-abortion-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-common-sense-transparency-abortion-pill\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-life group calls for ‘common sense’ transparency regarding abortion pill"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Pregnancy Help News<\/a>) Representatives of the nation\u2019s largest network of pregnancy help organizations called for<\/a> renewed<\/a> focus on women\u2019s safety<\/a> related to chemical abortion pill<\/a> regulation after newly confirmed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that President Donald Trump wants a study of the drug\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

RFK Jr. said that Trump has not yet \u201cmade a decision about the issue\u201d of chemical abortion drug mifepristone but asked him to study its safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that that\u2019s worth doing,\u201d said Kennedy.<\/p>\n

RFK was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Trump administration Feb. 13 amid stiff pushback from Democrats opposed to Trump and concern<\/a> among pro-life advocates<\/a> over Kennedy\u2019s stance in favor of abortion access<\/a>. He made his comments<\/a> on Trump\u2019s call for a safety study of mifepristone in an interview that evening on Fox News Channel\u2019s The Ingraham Angle <\/em>program.<\/p>\n

Kennedy had said during his confirmation hearing<\/a> that he agreed with Trump in that every abortion is a tragedy, and that the 1.2 million abortions annually in the U.S. conflicts with being a moral nation. Kennedy said as well he agrees with Trump on states regulating abortion, that late-term abortion<\/a> should be ended, conscious rights should be protected, and federal funding for abortions here and abroad should end.<\/p>\n

He had also said during his confirmation hearing that Trump had asked him to study the safety of mifepristone<\/a> and that whatever the president does to regulate the drug, he would implement the policy.<\/p>\n

The safety standards surrounding mifepristone have been hotly contested as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has repeatedly weakened its own standards following a contentious approval process of the drug, all of which pro-life advocates say puts women and girls at unnecessary risk.<\/p>\n

Leaders with Heartbeat International, which manages Abortion Pill Rescue\u00ae Network (APRN) and thus has daily contact with many women who regret their decision to have an abortion and seek to reverse the chemical abortion they have in progress, again called for women\u2019s safety to be front and center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen should not be treated merely as pawns in a political powerplay such as the FDA has foisted upon the American people in recent years,\u201d said Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International. \u201cChanging definitions and truncating research helps obscure the truth about the abortion industry while putting more women at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heartbeat\u2019s Senior Director of Medical Impact concurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, women are starting abortions every day in America without the benefit of medical care before, during or following their abortions – and without the protections of the FDA,\u201d said Christa Brown. \u201cDue to lack of reporting of adverse events, women are provided a drug that is far more dangerous than the FDA reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMedical teams are experiencing an influx of women presenting in emergency departments with symptoms of bleeding, pain and infection following their so-called “at home, safe and effective” chemical abortions,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Estimates vary but they all indicate that chemical abortions\u00a0account for<\/a>\u00a0a clear\u00a0majority of all abortions<\/a>\u00a0conducted in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Mifepristone<\/a> is the first of two drugs in the two-drug<\/a> chemical abortion<\/a> regimen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The drug<\/a> starves the unborn child of necessary nutrients by blocking progesterone in the pregnant mother\u2019s system. The second drug in a chemical abortion, misoprostol, is taken a day or so after mifepristone, causing the woman to go into labor and deliver her presumably deceased child.<\/p>\n