Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and 19 Republican Senate colleagues, plus 71 House Republicans, want the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban use of Mifeprex, commonly known as RU-486, to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks after conception.
“It is by now nakedly obvious that the abortion industry and its allies in the media, billionaire philanthropic circles, and special interest groups, have wanted an unregulated and de-medicalized abortion pill since the moment the FDA first approved it in 2000,” Cruz and the others told FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in a Sept. 1, 2020, letter.
“As you may further know, the Clinton administration approved this lethal drug under pressure from these same groups and under a highly politicized approval process.
“We believe this deadly pill should never have been approved, yet the abortion industry was politically rewarded with an accelerated approval process normally reserved for high-risk drugs that address life-threatening illnesses like AIDS.”
The Mifeprex abortion pill has been used to terminate the lives of an estimated 3.7 million unborn babies, caused 24 maternal deaths, and resulted in more than 4,100 adverse reactions in users, including bleeding, extreme abdominal pain, and life-threatening infections, according to the signers. The drug is also known as “mifepristone.”
There are almost certainly significantly more deaths and reactions associated with the drug than officially reported because victims are likely to go to hospitals rather than back to the abortion clinic that provided the pill.
“Of course, adverse events are notoriously underreported, which makes the true number impossible to assess. Moreover, as of 2016, abortion pill manufacturers are only required to report maternal deaths,” the signers told Hahn.
“However, most women experiencing adverse reactions (such as hemorrhaging) are more likely to seek emergency care at hospitals and emergency rooms, rather than returning to the abortion facility where the pill was prescribed,” the signers continued.
The signers encouraged Hahn to exercise FDAs existing authority to declare Mifeprex “an imminent hazard to public health” that poses “a significant threat of danger.”
Senators joining Cruz in signing the letter to FDA include Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Sen. Joni K. Ernst (Iowa), Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), Sen. Roger F. Wicker (Miss.), Sen. Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.), Sen. M. Michael Rounds (R-S.D.), Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), and Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.).
On the House side, Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) circulated the draft letter to Hahn and obtained signatures from 70 Republican colleagues.
A spokesman for the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) did not respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.
Susan B. Anthony List (SBAL) Vice President Mallory Quigley told The Epoch Times Wednesday that “chemical abortion drugs are dangerous and put women at serious risk of heavy bleeding, infection, and even death.”
Quigley added that her pro-life group believes Democratic officials who push “to expand chemical abortion during this uncertain time for the health and safety of our nation … repeatedly put the profits of the abortion industry over the protection of women and their children.”
In their letter, the signers also encouraged Hahn to mount “a serious examination of theRead More From Source
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