Under committee chairman Bill Cassidy, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released a report in August that concluded a five-month investigation into three drug companies that manufacture mifepristone.
The report is entitled “Mifepristone Without Guardrails: An Investigation into How Chemical Abortion Drug Makers Are Putting Mothers and Babies at Risk."
Mifepristone, the generic name for Mifeprex, is the first of two abortion pills used in a self-induced abortion. After mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, which removes the fetus from the lining of the uterus, the second pill, known as misoprostol, mimics early labor to expel the fetus.
Use of mifepristone has jumped dramatically after the Dobbs abortion ruling in June of 2022 allowed U.S. states to impose tighter abortion limits. With abortions moving from the abortion clinic to the home, abortion supporters have rushed to defend the drugs and easy abortion access.
Despite the obvious danger from expelling the fetus at home, a common talking point among abortion supporters is to assure women the abortion pill is safer than taking Tylenol.
Asked to describe the report’s findings on the “Washington Watch” program, Sen. Cassidy told show host Tony Perkins he had a better idea.
“Let’s step back,” the Senator said, “and humanize the topic.”
Cassidy then described the scenario of a pregnant 16-year-old, who wants to keep the baby. Her mother is demanding she abort the child and obtains the abortion pill through the mail to make it happen.
“It's her mother that got the pill for her through a mail-order shop,” Cassidy said. “Her mother ordered it and forced her to take it.”
The teen girl is then forced to take the pill against her will, Cassidy said. She is several weeks beyond the 11-week maximum intended to induce an abortion, and she takes mifepristone without any visit with a medical doctor or an ultrasound.
“What you laid out there is not theoretical. That's reality. That's actually happening,” Perkins commented. “It's not just mothers. It's boyfriends, It's husbands.”
Even though the scenario faulted the teen girl’s mother, Sen. Cassidy said the real fault lies with drug manufacturers Danco Laboratories, GenBioPro, and Evita Solutions. Those drug companies, he warned, helped draft the FDA regulations that regulate mifepristone.
“One of the companies tried to get rid of any restrictions whatsoever, any requirement to report damaging effects. So it's like they want to evade responsibility,” Cassidy warned.
In a separate “Washington Watch” program, Family Research Council staff member Chris Gacek backed up the findings in the Senate committee report.
Gacek, an attorney who monitors federal law and regulations, said the pro-abortion FDA has been looking the other way since the Obama administration despite women being hurt from the abortion pill and its medical complications.
“There's no data. There's no tracking. There's no evidence of damage, right?” he said. “They're extremely cunning, and they know exactly what they're doing."
Even though the abortion side appears to be winning, Gacek said he is following a lawsuit filed by the State of Louisiana against the FDA for allowing mail-order abortions without a doctor's visit.
That lawsuit involves a plaintiff, Rosalie Markezich. She alleges her former boyfriend ordered the abortion pill online and forced her to take it.
An appeals court hearing is set for today, after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a stay in May to maintain nationwide access during the legal battle.
