A bill that seeks to keep abortion pills legal in Illinois — even if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules them unsafe — has passed both legislative branches and now heads to the desk of Governor J.B. Pritzker.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The legislation allows the abortion pill to remain legal in Illinois as long as it is approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).
- Future FDA restrictions on the abortion pill would not apply in the state.
- The bill does not specify any particular drug, making the bill much broader in application than just the abortion pill regimen.
- Governor J.B. Pritzker is a billionaire abortion advocate who founded the nonprofit, Think Big America, to directly fund pro-abortion ballot measures across the United States.
THE DETAILS:
House Bill 3637 passed the House with a 75-39 vote on Saturday after passing the Senate in April. Tucked within the 182-page legislation is the stipulation that:
If a drug had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before January 1, 2025, the revocation of approval of the drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after that date shall not cause it to be deemed an adulterated drug in violation of this Act if the drug is recommended for use by the World Health Organization, even if the drug’s labeling reflects prior approval that is no longer in effect, so long as the drug’s labeling was true and accurate at the time of its manufacture.
This means that abortionists will not be penalized for prescribing the abortion pill, even if the FDA determines at a future time to reinstate regulations surrounding its distribution.
But the bill doesn’t specify a drug; it could apply to any drug that fits these stipulations, placing the World Health Organization’s authority over that of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in some instances.
“We want to make sure when it comes to this particular issue, that FDA approval for medication abortion would not, or actually if the FDA were to take this medication out of its FDA approval, that it would not still ban or limit access to medication abortion in Illinois,” Rep. Dagmara Avelar (D-Bolingbrook) said.
But several Republican lawmakers issued warnings against the bill.
“We are allowing a foreign organization to determine if our drugs are safe and effective over our own FDA,” said Rep. Kevin Schmidt (R-Millstadt). “This is an extremely dangerous bill.”
“We have to stop this fort of breaking down all the safety mechanisms we have around abortion,” added Rep. Bill Hauter (R-Morton). “There has to be some safety mechanisms, whether it be in the abortion clinic or it would be with abortion medications.”
WHY IT MATTERS:
Numerous studies and anecdotal evidence indicate that the abortion pill is far more dangerous than many people realize.
Research carried out by the pro-abortion group Gynuity has shown that six percent (6%) of women who take the abortion pill will require care at an ER or urgent care facility. That is believed to be a low estimate, as women are encouraged to lie when presenting at the emergency room and say that they are experiencing a natural miscarriage instead. In another study, the abortion pill was found to be four times more dangerous than a first-trimester abortion.
Furthermore, in a recent analysis, researchers examined insurance data regarding “serious adverse events” (complications) resulting from mifepristone (the abortion pill) and reportedly found a 22 times higher event rate than the rate currently held by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These complications included hemorrhaging, infection, sepsis, transfusions, hospitalization, and more.
These findings have prompted Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ask the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct a “complete review” of the abortion pill. Some hope that such a review could, at the very least, reinstate some of the safeguards surrounding abortion pill distribution which were removed under the Biden administration.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Illinois lawmakers seem willing to go to any extreme lengths to ensure that abortion remains cemented and largely unregulated in a state where pregnancy centers are under attack and women are frequently injured at abortion facilities.
