Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are asking the Food and Drug Administration to eliminate “immediately” the requirement that the abortion drug mifepristone be administered in person by a certified healthcare worker. The medical reality is that the need to safeguard the health of vulnerable patients justifies and even demands the FDA requirements. A victory for pro-abortion activists in this arena would seriously compromise the safety of women and girls.

Mifeprex or mifepristone, the “abortion pill,” is only one of several dozen medications that the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies regulates. Some, such as Accutane, are strictly controlled because they cause birth defects in the children of pregnant women. Others, such as opioids, are heavily regulated due to the great hazards of addiction and overdose. In the case of mifepristone, REMS was instituted because the drug poses a significant risk of life-threatening complications related to maternal infection and hemorrhage. Young, healthy women have, on many occasions, bled to death or died of sepsis after a medication abortion, and many more have endured disabling complications but survived.