Demand for abortion “pills” is on the rise, while the number of surgical abortions has declined over the decades, says a Reuters report.
As a result of the FDA’s approval earlier this year of a new label for Mifepristone – one of the drugs used for medication abortion – the guidelines for the drug were relaxed, allowing it to be used at a lower dosage for aborting babies up to 70 days, or 10 weeks, of gestation, rather than the former 49 days, or 7 weeks.
Additionally, nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants can now administer abortion pills, instead of physicians only.
“What we’re seeing is a dramatic shift in states like Ohio, Texas which until the spring limited how it could be used,” Reuters correspondent Jilian Mincer said about medication abortion. “Now it will be available further along in someone’s pregnancy up until 10 weeks. And that’s making a huge difference because before it was only up to 49 days gestation, so we’re seeing rates triple in those locations.”
Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino uses medical animation to show what happens during a medication abortion. Pro-life group Live Action features the video below:
As Levatino describes, two “pills” are used for medication abortions. The first pill, Mifepristone, or RU-486, blocks the hormone progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to sustain the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the uterus disintegrates – preventing the baby from receiving blood and nourishment – and the baby dies.
The mother then takes a second drug, Misoprostol, 24 to 48 hours later. This drug causes uterine contractions and bleeding until the baby is expelled from the uterus.
In March, Planned Parenthood celebrated the FDA’s relaxation of the guidelines for Mifepristone:
In 2013, former Iowa Planned Parenthood clinic manager Sue Thayer exposed the abortion industry giant’s move in 2007 to push “webcam” medication abortions at every Iowa affiliate via Skype.
CBN reported:
These abortions are a type of telemedicine that allow a doctor to visit with a patient remotely and then dispense abortion pills using a computerized medicine cabinet. In another clinic, the patient takes one pill to kill her unborn child and then takes another at home to expel it.
Planned Parenthood touts the new procedure as a way to more efficiently deliver health care to rural women.
“The staff was instructed to say, ‘We can take care of that problem today,’ 45 minutes in and out,” Thayer recalled.
The efficiency also allows Planned Parenthood to achieve greater cost-savings, Thayer said. It also increases the productivity of its small pool of abortion doctors.
According to the report, Thayer soon became concerned about supervising the procedure at her facility, but Planned Parenthood officials told her not to alert doctors in her area about the webcam medication abortions. In addition, Planned Parenthood required her and other non-medical staff to perform transvaginal ultrasounds.
“My boss said, ‘If you’re breathing, you can do it. It helps if you’ve run a joystick because it’s a lot like playing a video game,'” Thayer explained, adding that, though the FDA had still not approved administering Mifepristone past 49 days of gestation, Planned Parenthood began immediately dispensing it to young girls and women up to day 63 of the pregnancy.
Thayer said her expressed concerns and complaints to her bosses at Planned Parenthood led to her being fired in 2008. When she learned her severance package would include the requirement of a signed agreement that she not speak out about what she had seen at Planned Parenthood, she rejected it. Thayer then launched an effort in her community to help women facing crisis pregnancies.
Reuters reports that current data it received from Planned Parenthood show that, in Iowa clinics, 64 percent of all abortions performed are now via medications.
Planned Parenthood says it charges “up to $800” for the “abortion pill” procedure. It informs women considering medication abortion that they will be given a “medication guide, instructions, and other information to take home with you, including a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week telephone number you can call if you have any questions or concerns.”
“You may feel more at ease if you have a trusted loved one with you during the abortion,” Planned Parenthood suggests, adding that women will need to come into a clinic within one to two weeks for a follow-up visit “to make sure your abortion is complete.”
As Live Action News noted, in 2013, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California said, “There is no difference between taking a pill for a cold or taking one to induce an abortion.”