After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed in-person dispensing, the dangers of abortion drugs increased for women, according to a March 10 report.
The FDA used to require an in-person visit for the prescription of abortion drugs — a requirement that was in flux in 2020 and has been revoked since 2021.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) looked at data across a period of about six years (2017–2023) and found that the rate at which women experienced serious adverse events increased “significantly” with no in-person requirements in place.
The report found this to be “especially true” for women with ectopic pregnancies — a life-threatening condition that can only be diagnosed by a doctor in person.
According to the EPPC report, the rate of serious adverse events increased by 1.35 percentage points from when in-person visits were required to when the requirement was in flux and removed. For women with ectopic pregnancies, the rate of harm was 52% higher after the in-person policy was revoked.
The serious adverse rate was found to be 10.15% before the policy was revoked, and 11.50% after, but the label for the abortion drug lists the rate of serious adverse events as “less than 0.5%.”
This study is one among several pointing to a higher rate of serious problems. Multiple other studies have shown high rates of hospitalizations for women taking the abortion pill. Chemical abortion has a complication rate four times that of surgical abortion, according to one study.
Heartbeat International — a worldwide network of pregnancy help centers — said it is hearing more calls from women with complications after going through a chemical abortion.
“As the abortion pill has become more widely used, we are hearing from more women who call with complications or concerns after taking it,” Heartbeat International told EWTN News. “Some experience heavy bleeding, severe pain, or infection, while others realize they regret their decision after taking the first pill and are urgently looking for help.”
“Many women we hear from who have these concerns express a feeling of betrayal, as they were sold on the idea that abortion was no big deal,” Heartbeat continued.
“When the in-person requirement for abortion pills was removed, it meant women could obtain abortion pills online without a physical exam or ultrasound,” Heartbeat stated. “That removes important safeguards that determine the gestational age and viability of the baby and also help detect life-threatening conditions like ectopic pregnancy.”
“On the ground level, this means some women are taking these powerful drugs without fully understanding the risks and only seeking medical help after serious complications occur,” Heartbeat stated. “That is why we, along with other pro-life organizations, have called on the FDA to reinstate commonsense safeguards that help protect women from unnecessary harm and abuse.”
“Unfortunately, it has also opened a door for abusers to obtain the drug and force women into aborting their wanted babies,” Heartbeat continued. “There are multiple cases in Texas, Illinois, and Ohio already documented, and it will continue until the REMS are reinstated.”
In one case, Rosalie Markezich, a Louisiana woman, was coerced into taking abortion drugs that her then-boyfriend obtained via mail from a doctor in California, according to an ongoing lawsuit.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, who heads Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a group whose mission is to end abortion, pointed to the death toll of the policy.
“Since Biden’s FDA removed the in-person dispensing requirement, their explosive growth is responsible for more than 60% of at least 1.1 million deaths a year in our nation — more than fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine combined,” Dannenfelser told EWTN News. “This demands action by itself.”
“When you add the thousands of women and girls landing in emergency rooms with severe complications, which increasingly includes violent assaults and poisonings by abusers since there are no real checks on who is ordering, the commonsense case for taking these dangerous drugs out of the mail — at a minimum — only grows with every passing day,” Dannenfelser said.
Mail-order pills can be shipped into every state even if they are illegal in the state in question, making chemical abortion easily accessible, with recent numbers showing that chemical abortions make up about two-thirds of all U.S. abortions.
“Abortion drugs are undermining pro-life progress since Dobbs and causing a public health crisis in America,” Dannenfelser said.
Dannenfelser called on the current administration to reinstate these protections.
“Only the Trump-Vance administration seems to be the outlier now, with its own DOJ [Department of Justice] telling the states not to expect support in upholding their laws until well after midterms,” she said. “This is a serious miscalculation, as one-third of the GOP’s most engaged base voters may sit out if the administration abandons its commitment to life.”
“Not only are 51 U.S. senators, 175 representatives, and 21 attorneys general calling for safeguards like in-person doctor visits to be immediately reinstated, but also, this pressing safety threat brings self-identified pro-choice and liberal Americans to the table,” Dannenfelser said.
“The very least they must do is simply reinstate the policies of President Trump’s first term,” she continued. “And we are not going to stop calling for action to protect countless lives.”
