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| House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) |
Now, a resolution by pro-abortion legislators is echoing that sentiment. On August 19, pro-abortion members of the House Oversight Committee announced its push to roll back REMS protections permanently.
House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D, NY) said, “It’s time that we trust the science and ensure access to safe, legal abortion, particularly for communities where abortion care has been historically pushed out of reach. I plan to continue this fight until everyone can freely exercise their right to access abortion — including medication abortion.”
Before the pandemic, the FDA had applied its REMS (Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy) protocol to the distribution of abortion pills. REMS protocol required the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol to be dispensed in-person by a licensed physician, so that they could take actions to ensure that the pills did not put the mother's life at risk. If the mother incorrectly dated her pregnancy or had an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, taking the abortion pill regimen could pose serious health risks, including hemorrhage and death.
Physicians can ensure that pregnancies are dated correctly and identify ectopic pregnancies. Doing so reduces the chance that a woman whose life would be endangered by the abortion pill regimen will choose it as their method of abortion.
During the pandemic, the FDA has waived the in-person requirement for abortion pill distribution. Instead, the FDA thought it would be more important to slow the spread of COVID-19 by allowing women to simply receive abortion pills over the mail. This also put more women in danger of the health risks posed by the abortion pill.
