Published
June 13, 2024

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case FDA v. Alliance for Hippocrates Medicine, which will enable the Biden administration’s dangerously relaxed regulations on chemical abortion products to remain in force. The Court ruled that the doctors and medical organizations that brought the lawsuit did not have standing to sue. The case included whether the FDA violated federal law by waiving specific safety regulations requiring doctors’ personal supervision of abortion drugs and whether the distribution of chemical abortion drugs by mail or common carrier violated long-standing federal law.

Texas Alliance for Life communications director Amy O’Donnell said:

“We are disappointed in the opinion issued today by the Supreme Court allowing dangerously lax regulations on chemical abortion products at the expense of the health, lives and future fertility of women and girls in our country. However, in Texas, this case does not change our laws. Texas law makes the distribution of chemical abortion drugs illegal and provides penalties for people caught illegally selling them. It is important to note that this opinion should not be misconstrued as a statement that the FDA’s relaxed distribution regulations are safe. Despite the outcome of this case, it does not mean the end of our and others’ efforts to protect women and girls from harm caused by chemical abortion drugs, especially those distributed irresponsibly.”

Background:

  • Chemical abortion drugs have been shown to have a much higher complication rate than surgical abortion. A peer-reviewed study conducted in Finland in 2009, published by ACOG in Obstetrics and Gynecology found that chemical abortions have a 20% risk of complications, four times higher than surgical abortions. Without the requirement for an in-person medical visit, which allows the doctor to confirm gestational age, whether the patient is Rh negative, and whether the pregnancy is ectopic, women and girls are at increased risk of complications, including potential loss of fertility, hemorrhage, and even death.
  • The FDA has removed adverse reaction reporting requirements, removing the ability to track women and girls in our country harmed by the chemical abortion drug regimen and increasing the number of these reactions since the relaxed regulations were introduced.
  • The case has no effect in Texas because state law completely protects unborn children from abortion by both surgical and chemical methods.
  • Since the ruling was overturned, state abortion laws have fully protected unborn children from surgical and chemical abortions Roe v. Wade IN Dobbs in June 2022. Subsequently, the number of reported elective abortions dropped from thousands per month to zero. Texas law has an exception allowing life-saving abortions. During the first 19 months after DobbsAccording to data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, doctors performed 91 abortions when the pregnancy threatened the loss of the woman’s life or major bodily functions.

Contact:
Amy O’Donnell, Director of Communications
[email protected]
512.477.1244 (o)

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