Not anymore, however. The new FDA guidelines go directly against duly passed and implemented laws in several states, including Texas, North Dakota and Ohio, which require doctors to follow previous guidelines issued by the FDA some 16 years ago.
As reported by USA Today:
"The new rules allow women to use the medication for 70 days after the start of their most recent menstrual period, up from 49 days under the previous guidelines. The agency also lowered the dosage of the medication, called mifepristone, from 600 milligrams to 200 milligrams, and made it easier for women to get a prescription for the pill."
No matter what health data – or state legislatures – say.
This decision isn't about protecting women
The previous requirements had been in place since 2000, but the FDA said in a statement that more recent scientific data indicated that it was time to update them.
"After reviewing the supplemental application, the agency determined that Mifeprex is safe and effective when used to terminate a pregnancy in accordance with revised labeling," an FDA statement said, referencing the drug's brand name.
Naturally the abortion "rights" zealots approve overwhelmingly, because the change means women will be able to induce an abortion for a longer period of time – which they believe is much better than, say, abstaining from sex or using some form of birth control instead.
President Ilyse Hogue of NARAL Pro-Choice America said, remarkably, that the abortion pill has been much safer to use than Viagra, Tylenol and other common medications.
"Unlike state and federal anti-choice laws that restrict a women's access to an abortion, the FDA decision to make mifepristone available to more women in this country is based on science that shows this usage is safe and medically sound," Hogue said. "It's high time to put medicine back into the hands of medical professionals and take it out of politicians' hands."
Even if those politicians were elected to make such decisions?
Wait – isn't saving just one life worth it?
As for the safety of the drug, opponents say that lengthening the time-frame in which women can take the pill will only lead to more "incomplete" abortions and add even more risk.
Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, a Kansas-based pro-life organization, said that Big Pharma companies will use the FDA's changes to persuade more "vulnerable pregnant women" to use an "unpredictable" drug.
"The FDA should be more about protecting the public from exploitative and predatory uses of drugs rather than pandering to Planned Parenthood and the rest of the Abortion Cartel," Newman said in a statement, as reported by USA Today.
Those expressing caution are doing so with good reason. As reported by Life News, a woman in Italy died in 2014 after using the drug, making her one of at least a dozen others who developed rare "fatal bacterial infections involving sepsis, toxic shock syndrome, and gas gangrene after medical abortion with mifepristone and misoprostol."
And what's that the pro-abortion Left always tells us when it comes to the issue of gun control? Saving just one life makes it all worth it.
The big government nannies at FDA will most likely get their way, as usual, but once again it's a policy decision that has nothing to do with helping protect women.
Sources:
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