(tranquil music)
- For over 50 years, activists have threatened
that anything short of unfettered abortion on demand
will drive the deadly practice underground.
Of course, every abortion is unsafe,
killing at least one person.
But the specter of back alley abortions
has proven to be a powerful tactic to scare the public
and their elected officials into opposing
even the most modest health
and safety regulations on abortion.
Don't you think it's time we reevaluate
this stale talking point?
My name is Dr. Christina Francis.
I'm a board certified OBGYN and CEO
of the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs or AAPLOG.
With our colleagues at three other medical associations,
along with four frontline doctors, we are challenging
what has become America's largely unregulated
and unsupervised chemical abortion regimen.
Together with Alliance Defending Freedom,
we filed a federal lawsuit against the Food
and Drug Administration asking the court
to reverse the FDA's illegal and irresponsible authorization
of harmful chemical abortion drugs.
For years, federal agencies recognized
that chemical abortion drugs were too dangerous to approve.
But in 2000, President Bill Clinton pressured the FDA
into disregarding the proper testing procedures
and approving chemical abortion drugs.
Today, the abortion pill regimen accounts
for at least 54% of abortions in the US.
Things have gotten far worse since 2016
as the FDA has relaxed
the already insufficient safety parameters
for chemical abortions.
In 2000, a woman had to schedule
three in-person appointments with a doctor.
Once for an initial consultation
and to receive the first drug.
Once to receive a second drug
and a third time to confirm
that no fetal parts or tissue remained in the uterus.
Now, despite a slew
of catastrophic health situations arising
from the use of these drugs,
the FDA has removed all of these safeguards.
In December 2021, the FDA permanently
removed the in-person dispensing requirement,
allowing most prescribing to go virtual.
Then in early 2023,
the FDA authorized chemical abortion drugs to be dispensed
at corner pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens.
While major pharmaceutical companies
that manufacture chemical abortion drugs cheered
on the FDA's move, it is clearly extremely reckless
and constitutes medical and regulatory malpractice.
Chemical abortions can result
in complications like severe bleeding, infections
and the inability to carry later pregnancies to term.
They are especially dangerous
for women who are further along in their pregnancies
than they realize or who have ectopic pregnancies.
An in-person visit involving an ultrasound
is a necessary step to accurately diagnose
both gestational age and ectopic pregnancy.
But even when the FDA required an in-person visit,
the agency never required an ultrasound to screen
for these life-threatening conditions.
The FDA and abortionists are lying
to women when they say
that chemical abortion drugs are safe.
With the FDA's blessing,
women take these drugs at home, in a dorm room
or even in a hotel room alone
with no indication of the horrors that await.
Sometimes abortionists even recommend
that women pass the fetus into a toilet and not look.
Women who do look are often horrified to find
that the baby who they were told was just a clump
of cells, has hands, feet, fingers, and toes.
In one case, the abortionist assumed
that a woman was about six weeks pregnant
but after taking the chemical abortion drugs alone
in her bathroom, the woman delivered a fully formed baby
well into her third trimester
at a time that the baby could have survived
if given appropriate medical care.
In the all too frequent emergency situations that arise,
the abortionist who provided these dangerous drugs
abandons their duty to care
for women and emergency room doctors
and on-call OBGYNs have to fill the gap.
The FDA also acknowledges
that 28 women have died from complications
after taking chemical abortion drugs since 2000,
an estimate that is very likely
on the low side considering the lack
of reporting and tracking requirements around these drugs.
The FDA's approval of chemical abortion drugs
and its continual removal of safety requirements
for chemical abortions place politics above women's health.
In doing so, the FDA is betraying its mission
of protecting public health.
We are suing because we've had enough
of the FDA's illegal endangerment of women and girls.
Our patients deserve better, and we are confident
that the courts will agree.
To follow this case, visit adflegal.org.
You can find more videos like this
at adflegal.org/freedom-matters.
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