By: SBA Pro-Life America Team – sbaprolife.org – February 15, 2023

Hello! Now in the second month of divided government, we can start to see pro-life policy opportunities and threats take shape. Dobbs has energized the conversation adding fresh focus to new and familiar policies. We will still have to play defense against bad bills and nominees, but it is exciting to be back on offense.

Three things for your radar this week:

1. The potential impact of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA case is reverberating through the states and Congress as both sides prepare for a ruling soon.
2. Congressional Democrats held a press conference to announce their latest attempt to sidestep the Constitution to revive the long-expired equal rights amendment.
3. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced pro-abortion Julie Rikelman’s appointment to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals on a party line vote.

-Daniel 

TX chemical abortion case has potential for major impact

Just before Thanksgiving, the pro-life legal team at ADF filed a complaint on behalf of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a group of medical professionals, challenging the FDA’s original Clinton-era approval of the chemical abortion pill regimen. The doctors point to the FDA’s reckless and inadequate screening of the dangerous abortion drug regimenutilizing mifepristone and misoprostol, and its gradual and intentional removal of restrictions designed to enhance safety for women.

Danco, the primary abortion pill manufacturer, was recently allowed to intervene in the case, which delayed the date for a potential decision to late February.

Since the lawsuit was first filed, the abortion lobby has mobilized protests and hysteria in the media. Meanwhile, pro-life groups and elected officials have been busy informing the public, reinforcing legal arguments, and submitting amicus briefs including from:

• 22 state Attorneys General, and the state of Missouri
• 67 members of Congress (drafted by AUL)
• Charlotte Lozier Institute
• Advancing American Freedom
• Ethics and Public Policy Center
• Family Research Council
• American Center for Law and Justice
• Human Coalition
• Concerned Women for America
• Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Catholic Health Care Leadership Alliance, The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Catholic Bar Association, Catholic Benefits Association, and Christ Medicus Foundation

SBA Pro-Life America’s brief with Catholic medical & legal leaders focuses on 3 key points:

1. Patients in the clinical trials received standard medical screenings, including ultrasounds, physical exams and blood work, which help protect women against known complications. Yet these safeguards are not included on the mifepristone label and are not required for telemedicine abortions.
2. The FDA eliminated reporting requirements for non-fatal complications in 2016,meaning that prescribers, women and girls, and even the FDA don’t have complete data on the total number of complications caused by chemical abortions, including severe or life-threatening complications.
3. Without in-person contact, prescribers cannot adequately screen patients for coercion and abuse, further undermining the general principles and purposes of informed consent protections.

Scientists and doctors from Charlotte Lozier Institute also filed an amicus brief that details more than a dozen specific concerns with the FDA’s flawed approval.

Source: Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America