Leading abortion voices once decried unsupervised procedures as dangerous but are now eager to push a do-it-yourself drug with a questionable pedigree. Pharmacy giants Walgreens and CVS announced last week their decision to sell the abortion drug Mifepristone. Both retailers say they expect to make the drug available within weeks, according to Fox News.
The announcement comes as the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear challenges to FDA guidelines for distribution on March 26. The FDA established these guidelines last year.
Pro-life advocate Abby Johnson, founder of And Then There Were None, appeared on American Family Radio Monday morning and argued the decision underscores the hypocrisy of the abortion movement.
"For years the abortion industry said abortions at home are the worst thing. They were saying, 'This is not what we want for women … coat-hanger abortions, self-managed abortions are the worst. Now they are the biggest proponent of self-managed abortions," Johnson told show host Jenna Ellis. "Talk about hypocrites. They are the ones that are pushing this dangerous abortion on women."
The case against Mifepristone is brought by "doctors who routinely witness the fallout for women and girls who turn up in ERs with severe pain, heavy bleeding, infections and other serious complications," Katie Daniel, the state policy director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told Fox News.
Daniel said "reckless" policies like this by retailers show nothing but unashamed greed. Even when properly administered, she stated, abortion drugs have severe side effects.
"As two of the world's largest, most trusted 'health' brands, the decision by CVS and Walgreens to sell dangerous abortion drugs is shameful, and the harm to unborn babies and their mothers incalculable," said Daniel. "This reckless policy was made possible by the Biden administration, which is pushing to turn every pharmacy and post office in America into an abortion center for the sake of abortion industry greed."
She added, "Even when used under the strongest safeguards, abortion drugs send roughly one in 25 women to the emergency room, according to the FDA's own label. Yet under Democrat presidents, the FDA has illegally rolled back basic safety standards, like in-person doctor visits, even allowing these deadly drugs to be sent through the mail."
Some pro-life groups are saying abortion should rise to the level of disgust that Americans showed when the transgender movement was pushed by Target and Bud Light last summer.
"Time to boycott CVS and Walgreens," March for Life posted on its X account Friday.
Liberty Counsel quickly agreed. "Time to boycott CVS and Walgreens for being complicit in an agenda that facilitates the genocide of the unborn in America. Offering abortifacients for purchase at local drugstores across the country is beyond the pale," the group wrote.
Users of abortion pills miss valuable time with physicians
Johnson said purchasing the drugs through Walgreens, CVS or similar outlets removes physicians from the process – and consequently, clients aren't fully briefed on what to expect.
"The process is that you can go to over 70 websites – and I've checked this myself, I've done this myself – you can go to over 70 websites. You type in any name you want. Any date of birth you want. They do not check for an ID. You do not have to have gone to a doctor. You do not have to submit an ultrasound. They don't care if the pregnancy is in your uterus or that you possibly have an ectopic pregnancy. They don't care. They don't care about any medical history.
"If you pay them about $100 … they will give you a prescription, and then you will take that to the pharmacy and you pick up the pill. So, you don't talk to a physician, you don't talk to a nurse, you don't talk to anybody. The person who emails you back is just somebody named Becky or Susan or Elizabeth. It's just some random person who emails you back that you go through this transaction with. This is horrifying," Johnson said.
There are far too many unintended consequences with the abortion drugs, far too much trust that users will make safe choices, Johnson said. And she warns that women who choose this path aren't considering some possible very harmful outcomes, particularly if the drugs aren't used as directed. Mifepristone is marketed as most effective early in a pregnancy.
"So later on in the pregnancy, the Mifepristone is not going to probably do anything to her baby; but it's the second pill, the Misoprostol, that will cause her to go into labor. So, we're talking about women delivering live babies at home, in a hotel room, wherever she is, at a friend's house, in a dorm, possibly in a public restroom … wherever she takes the second set of pills, Misoprostol, she's going to go into labor," Johnson said.
"… These women are going to be delivering babies, possibly live babies, and then what do they do? What do they do with them? These babies are not going to be strong enough to live without medical intervention on their own. So, these women are going to be watching their babies essentially suffocate to death on their own lungs because they're not going to have any sort of breathing support," she warned.
What happens after the fact?
Johnson contends said there's not enough discussion about long-range psychological effects faced by women in these unexpected episodes.
"We are already seeing so many women coming to pregnancy centers, calling our love line hotline, so many women who are reaching out saying, 'I had no idea I was going to see a full baby floating in the toilet. I had no idea I was going to be holding my baby after taking these medical abortion pills.'"
And the ramifications of that, said Johnson, are heartbreaking.
"I believe we're going to see a spike in suicidal ideations, possible suicide, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-mutilation. I believe we're going to see a spike in all of these mental health disorders in women – and then society is going to ask, 'What's going on with women?'" Johnson said.
