| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 4, 2020 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley [email protected], 202-223-8073 |
Washington, D.C. – Today pro-life leaders sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn urging him to take action to stop the illegal internet sale of abortion-inducing drugs, manufactured overseas and shipped into the U.S.
Under the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), the abortion drug Mifeprex or generic mifepristone cannot legally be sold in pharmacies or online due to the risk of serious complications – but website domains such as AidAccess and Rablon that sell and distribute abortion-inducing drugs continually fail to comply with REMS requirements.
“We urge the FDA to protect American women from dangerous abortion drugs entering the U.S. market illegally from overseas. AidAccess, Rablon, and the abortion radicals who operate these illegal pill-mills jeopardize women’s health and safety every day they continue to operate,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Chemical abortion drugs pose a serious risk of potentially life-threatening complications. Research shows as many as five to seven percent of women who undergo chemical abortions will require follow-up surgery. While the abortion industry and its allies promote these drugs as the safe, easy, near painless way to have an abortion, the truth is that women have experienced intense pain, severe and heavy bleeding, and even death as a result of chemically-induced abortions. As our nation responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope to see the FDA to step up enforcement of the commonsense regulations they have already put in place to mitigate the expansion of these dangerous drugs.”
The letter reads in part:
“We appreciate that the FDA is seriously defending the necessary safeguards contained in the Mifeprex REMS litigation. These safeguards are meaningless, however, if opportunistic entities can sell abortion-inducing drugs over the internet with impunity. We urge the FDA to act now to stop this predatory and dangerous practice.”
The letter was signed by 56 pro-life leaders including Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of SBA List; Dr. Donna J. Harrison M.D., Executive Director of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Bradley Mattes, President of Life Issues Institute; Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action; Catherine Glenn Foster, President and CEO of Americans United for Life; Jeanne Mancini, President of March for Life; Lila Rose, President and Founder of Live Action; Penny Young Nance, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America; Carol Tobias, President of National Right to Life; Dr. Jeffery Barrows D.O. M.A., Senior Vice President of Bioethics and Public Policy at the Christian Medical and Dental Associations; Dr. Kris Held M.D., President of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons; Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life; Eunie Smith, President of the Eagle Forum; Thomas A. Glessner, President of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA); Greg Schleppenbach, Associate Director of the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-life Activities; Jessica Anderson, Executive Director of Heritage Action; Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice; Travis S. Weber, Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs at Family Research Council; Jor-El Godsey, President of Heartbeat International; Russell Moore, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Dorinda Bordlee, Chief Counsel at the Bioethics Defense Fund; Dr. Ellen Gianoli B.S.N. M.A. R.N., President of the National Association of Catholic Nurses, among others.
Experts at SBA List’s research arm, Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), have previously criticized flawed research on chemical abortion drugs suggesting that self-administered chemical abortions do not pose dangers to women. Lawmakers have introduced federal legislation that would stop the expansion of dangerous chemical abortion drugs.
SBA List is a network of more than 837,000 pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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