Pro-choicers should be worried about abortion pill abuse
A recent indictment in the state of Louisiana highlights how pro-choice shield laws can protect the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable.
Grand jurors in Louisiana indicted Dr. Margaret Carpenter, a New York physician, for criminal abortion after she prescribed abortion pills to the mother of a pregnant minor. The pregnant girl took the abortion pill which triggered a medical emergency, ending the girl’s pregnancy and landing her in the hospital. The same grand jury also indicted the pregnant girl’s mother.
This story emphasises the tension between pro-choice versus pro-abortion policies. New York Governor Hochul was adamant in her support for abortion doctors violating pro-life laws by prescribing abortion pills across state lines. In a statement expressing why she refuses to honor Louisiana’s extradition request, Hochul said she would “do everything” in her power “to protect this doctor and allow her to continue the work she’s doing that is so essential.”
Is coercion “essential” healthcare?
The strength of pro-choice arguments rests on choice. However, this Louisiana case shows how protecting broad, open access to abortion pills protects coercion rather than choice. Evidence collected by prosecutors shows the pregnant teenager wanted to keep her child.
District Attorney Tony Clayton states the child was coerced into taking the abortion pills by her mother who told the pregnant teen to “take the pill or else.” Although it remains unclear how far along the minor’s pregnancy was, she was instructed by her mother to take the pill while home alone. After taking the drugs the baby began to be born while the pregnant minor hemorrhaged.
This leads to questions that should be of grave concern to both pro-life and pro-choice advocates. For those who claim to be pro-choice, how can laws designed to allow for abortion access also be tailored to ensure abusive individuals who coerce women into abortion are held accountable for their actions?
In the case of shipping abortion pills from abortion-friendly jurisdictions to states where abortion is illegal, there are obvious dangers. Clayton addresses some of these, highlighting how transporting abortion pills from one state to another is “equivalent to me shipping fentanyl or other types of drugs over here that end up in the mouths and stomach of our minor kids.”
Despite the fact there is no indication the pregnant mother wanted an abortion, some pro-choice advocates view the coercion in this case with skepticism. Dr. Carpenter co-founded the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine. The group released a statement saying the indictment against Dr. Carpenter is “the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes women’s access to reproductive healthcare throughout the country.”
How open access to abortion pills facilitates abuse and medical malpractice
Cases such as the one from Louisiana expose a fault line between pro-choice and pro-abortion advocates. This is because open access to the abortion pill through telemedicine increases the risk of abuse and medical malpractice, which runs against the principle of choice.
Pro-choice advocates often state abortion pills are “safer than Tylenol” and have rejected Louisiana’s classification of abortion pills as a dangerous substance. For example, a group of physicians dissenting from this classification state there is no reason to believe abortion pills have “any potential for abuse, dependence, public health risk, nor high rates of adverse side effects.”
Cases such as the one above prove this statement is incorrect. There are several obvious dangers associated with abortion pills.
First, as the case above shows, open access to abortion pills makes it easy for non-pregnant individuals to obtain abortion pills in hope that pregnant mothers who want to carry a child will take the drugs. These mothers may cave to external pressure to abort, be coerced into taking the medication, or unknowingly consume the drugs, leading to an unwanted induced abortion.
Second, even for those unconcerned with the safety and value of fetal life, the “safety” of abortion pills for the mother depends on a number of factors related to taking the pills as intended. One of the most obvious risk factors is gestational age. The FDA currently approves the use of medication abortions up to 10 weeks. This is because abortion pills are more likely to cause side effects, including hemorrhaging, as a woman’s pregnancy progresses. Thus, when doctors prescribe abortion pills across state lines, without the ability to assess gestational age through an in person visit, they are running the risk of blindly prescribing pills to women without being able to accurately evaluate risk.
Third, as described in the case above, abortion doctors who prescribe the abortion pill across state lines, are doing so without verifying the intention of the pregnant woman. This is incredibly dangerous because it means the doctor is prescribing pills to someone who is not the intended user of that medication.
In such circumstances, the doctor cannot verify with any degree of reasonable certainty whether the intended user of the medication wants to ingest the drug, or whether this user can be trusted to use the drugs as prescribed. This, of course, increases the risks of negative side effects and medical emergencies that cause pregnant women, such as the teenager in the case above, to end up in the hospital after receiving botched medical “care.”
Conclusion
The issues with open access to abortion pills via telemedicine should be of concern to pro-life and pro-choice advocates. Those who truly support abortion on the theory that women should have a choice should recognize the ways in which broad access to abortion pills can enable abusive behavior. Those in the pro-life community should highlight these issues and show a willingness to work with pro-choice advocates to find common ground to ensure abortion drugs are not used to coerce women into unwanted abortions.
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