July 20, 2020—Bristol, TN: Today the 18,000-member Christian
Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org)
denounced an injunction issued by a federal district court judge that bars the
FDA from enforcing health and safety precautions on a chemical abortion pill
during the pandemic.
Dr. Jeffrey Barrows, an Ob-Gyn and CMA's Senior Vice President
for Bioethics and Public Policy, said, "The judge handed pro-abortion
forces a pyrrhic victory at the cost of women’s health and lives. The reason
the FDA placed a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) on mifepristone
is that since its approval, 24 women have died from various complications
including infection and internal hemorrhage.
"Since mifepristone was approved in 2000, 97 women have been
documented with a pregnancy outside the womb--a life-threatening situation. I
know from personal experience that these abnormal pregnancies are difficult to
diagnose and require in-person consultation and examination. Prescription
through telemedicine will hamper the ability to diagnose these abnormal
pregnancies."
A federal district court judge for the District of Maryland on
July 13 issued a preliminary
injunction blocking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforcement for the
“Elements to Assure Safe Use” in the Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (REMS)
for the chemical abortion pill mifepristone. The injunction
allows mifepristone to be dispensed after telemedicine consult by clinics,
medical offices, and hospitals via mail or delivery service and applies until
thirty days after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
This injunction comes after Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Senator
Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) led 38 Senators and 121 House Members in a bicameral
letter urging FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn to enforce the REMS.
The letter noted, "Unfortunately, there are some who seek to
exploit this time of crisis to push for the weakening or overturning of
critical Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) associated with
medication abortion drugs, which would put women at significant risk."
The Congressional letter also highlighted that "research
proves that as many as five to seven percent of women who take abortion drugs
will require follow-up surgery, and three percent could end up in the emergency
room. Self-managed abortions from home are especially dangerous; in fact, half
of abortion providers do not consider them safe."
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