December 9, 2022

FDA Warns Against Prescribing Abortion Pills Before Pregnancy

Even as the FDA loosens restrictions on abortion pills, it rejects calls by abortion advocates to approve the prescription of abortion pills to women who are not yet pregnant.

“The FDA is concerned about the advance prescribing of mifepristone for this use,” an FDA spokesperson told Politico. “Mifepristone is not approved for advance provision of a medical abortion.”

The FDA spokesperson told Politico that the FDA condemned advance provision of abortion pills because this method does not allow a medical professional to properly verify a baby's gestational age or diagnose pregnancy conditions such as ectopic pregnancy. If the abortion pill regimen is taken after the baby has reached a certain gestational age, or while the mother has an ectopic pregnancy, the medical risk to the mother increases significantly.

While the concern is warranted, it's unclear why the FDA chose to allow abortion pills to be prescribed via telemedicine and delivered through the mail. An abortionist cannot accurately find the child's gestational age or diagnose pregnancy conditions remotely. The same risks apply to telemedicine abortion pills as apply to advance prescription ones.

Charlotte Lozier Institute Director of Medical Affairs Dr. Ingrid Skip told CNA that bad actors could also take advantage of advance prescription to coerce women.

“This can leave the door open for coercion, it can leave the door open for other people to get ahold of the medicine and give it to a woman who may not necessarily desire an abortion,” she said.