Leaders of the U.S. Bishops Conference (USCCB) have condemned a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision to cease enforcing the “in-person dispensing requirement” for chemical abortion pills during the remainder of the coronavirus public health emergency.
“It is difficult to see the FDA’s decision to not enforce important safety protocols as anything other than callous capitulation to the requests of abortion activists without regard for the health and safety of the women involved,” Kansas City Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in a statement Friday.
Public health officials put this requirement in place more than 20 years ago, under President Bill Clinton, Archbishop Naumann noted, “as a necessary precondition to ensure that pregnant women do not have contraindications that would make the abortion pills even more unsafe and possibly deadly for the woman.”
Not only does the decision endanger the lives of countless unborn children; it puts the lives of mothers in peril, the archbishop noted, because it removes important safeguards for their health.
Naumann observed:
An in-person evaluation by a medical professional is necessary to accurately determine the age of the baby (abortion pills are only approved for use in the first 70 days), whether the pregnancy is ectopic (which the woman has no way of knowing on her own), and to test and treat for Rh-incompatibility between mother and baby.
“Without this information and proper treatment, a woman’s health, future fertility, and life are placed in serious jeopardy,” he added.
The archbishop condemned the decision as irresponsible as well as deceitful because it conveys a false message regarding the safety of chemical abortions.
“With this decision, not only are women being sold the lie that abortion will solve their problems, but also that chemical abortion is a safe and easy way to go about it,” he warned.
“By pushing women away from medical oversight, abortion advocates are luring women into isolated, unsafe, and medically unwise decisions,” he concluded. “The inalienable dignity of women and their unborn children deserves so much more.”
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