A group of House democrats urged the Biden administration to legalize sending abortion pills via mail, which would reverse the two-decade-old rule that requires pills for medical abortions to only be acquired in person.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires Mifepristone, an abortion drug, to be given out in person with a prescription from a certified medical specialist, Christian Headline reported.
The rule was implemented in the year 2000 during Clinton's administration and has been continuously enforced by the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations.
Mifepristone is one of the two drugs used in abortion. It blocks the hormone progesterone of a woman which causes the lining of the uterus to break down and kill an unborn child. The other drug used is called Misoprostol, which sparks contractions that also causes the death of the unborn child.
Christianity Daily wrote that in July last year, abortion activists filed a lawsuit against FDA's safety rule that only administers mifepristone in person. They argued that it would be safer for women to obtain the drug via mail than risk getting infected by the coronavirus at an abortion clinic.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang of Maryland ruled to suspend the FDA's safety rule, however, then President Donald Trump filed for a reconsideration of the judge's ruling saying it is still best for women to go see a doctor for their own safety because the potent drug could still harm women even with proper "how-to" instructions.
Abortion drugs, such as the above mentioned, should only be prescribed by a professional and women should be examined properly before taking one to determine accurate pregnancy cycles. If not taken properly, it can cause serious internal damage to a woman's body.
The National Right to Life said that the FDA's record of "nearly two dozen deaths and thousands of complications" -- including severe hemorrhage and the rupture of undiscovered ectopic pregnancies -- "has proved" that the FDA's safety measures are important in order to protect women.
"Chemical abortions put at-risk healthy women who are pregnant with healthy babies," Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in January. "Women are not guinea pigs and putting them at risk so abortion activists can score political points is abhorrent."
Some have called the proposal "abortion by mail" as by overturning FDA's safety rule, women would be able to obtain the abortion drug through the mail.
A letter was sent to FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock on February 9, by 11 female members of the House Oversight Committee, urging the Biden administration to rule over FDA's safety rule and allow said pills to be sent in the mail.
"We are writing to request that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lift the medically unnecessary in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, a prescription medication that has been used to safely end early pregnancies for more than two decades in our country," the committee said.
"Imposing this requirement in the midst of a deadly pandemic-one that has disproportionately impacted communities of color across the United States-needlessly places patients and providers in harm's way, and further entrenches longstanding health inequities," it continued.
The proposal was signed by several Democrat women including Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Debbie Wasserman Shultz (Fla.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Katie Porter (Iowa).
