Dangerous abortion drugs continue to harm women

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, regarding the tragic death of a 28-year-old Georgia woman after she faced severe complications caused by abortion drugs:

“The horrific loss of Amber Nicole Thurman was a preventable tragedy. The young woman was given the abortion drug mifepristone at a clinic and then instructed to take a second abortion drug at home by herself. After she faced severe complications, including a septic infection, and went to the emergency room, the doctors failed to save her life. Every state with pro-life laws, including Georgia, allows doctors to save the life of a mother by any means necessary. Indeed, numerous exceptions to Georgia’s pro-life law permitted doctors to treat Ms. Thurman immediately. For starters, the law doesn’t apply when a child does not have a detectable heartbeat, and it forbids a D&C procedure only when performed with the specific intent to cause the death of an unborn child. Here, Ms. Thurman’s twins were already deceased. Any argument that doctors were unable to treat Ms. Thurman is a shameless attempt to use tragedy to push a political agenda. Indeed, the doctors involved appear never to have made that argument.

If the previous safeguards required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were still in place, Ms. Thurman would have had two follow-up visits with her doctors. But the FDA rolled back these common-sense protections even though its own label on abortion drugs says that roughly one in 25 women will end up in the emergency room. The FDA’s actions recklessly disregard the serious risks that abortion drugs pose to pregnant women.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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