Today’s FDA announcement that it is relaxing medical abortion protocols demonstrates the monstrous influence of Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry on our current government. For years, Planned Parenthood has claimed its own prominence as a “women’s healthcare provider,” while simultaneously defying guidelines for women’s safety. Instead of getting a warning letter from the FDA – or any other legal slap on the wrist – Planned Parenthood’s unsafe abortion methods have now been approved by the government.
Let’s review the facts as they were prior to the FDA’s announcement:
At nearly all of its abortion clinics across the nation, Planned Parenthood performs medical abortions (also known as the abortion pill, RU486, and mifepristone) past the FDA recommended guideline of seven weeks. And, at 104 of its clinics across the nation, Planned Parenthood publicly advertises medical abortions past nine weeks, the medical standard set by NARAL and Planned Parenthood itself.
In fact, Planned Parenthood publicly recommends against its own clinics’ practice.
In the screenshot below, Planned Parenthood advises women that they should not take the abortion pill after nine weeks of pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood, in its site’s education section, attempts to claim that the abortion pill is “used up to 63 days – 9 weeks – after the first day of a woman’s last period,” even while knowing that 104 of its own clinics use the abortion pill up to 10 weeks.
Planned Parenthood’s actions also defy the cited research of The Guttmacher Institute – a pro-abortion research arm originally founded by Planned Parenthood. Here, Guttmacher advises against following FDA guidelines, but still says the “evidence” points to stopping medication abortions at nine weeks of pregnancy.
While “gestational limit” is mentioned, multiple sources make it clear that the nine weeks of pregnancy is counting from the last menstrual period, thus using the LMP dating of a pregnancy, not the gestational age of the preborn child.
The abortion pill’s own website says:
“Mifeprex is FDA-approved for ending early pregnancy. Early pregnancy means it is 49 days (7 weeks) or less since your last menstrual period began.”
A number of other abortion clinics refuse to perform medication abortions past eight or nine weeks of pregnancy. Not so at Planned Parenthood. Even the pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) seems to recognize that the results of using the abortion pill after nine weeks is still being studied, and is certainly not approved by recognized medical standards in the U.S.
And yet, in 104 of its clinics, Planned Parenthood is more than happy to do just as it wishes, regardless of FDA guidelines or the accepted medical standards of the abortion industry. (Incidentally, a number of women have died as the abortion industry moved to its own standards, ignoring FDA protocol. 18-year-old Holly Patterson was one of these women.)
In the video below, former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino explains exactly what happens in a medical abortion:
After nine weeks of pregnancy, the survival rate of babies in medication abortion is as high as 8%. Planned Parenthood counsels women that, if the baby survives the abortion, they must return for a surgical abortion – which the woman must pay approximately $400-$500 for, in addition to the hundreds she has already paid for her failed abortion. In fact, some Planned Parenthood clinics require the woman to sign a paper before a medical abortion, agreeing that she will return for a second abortion.
Planned Parenthood (and the ACOG) attempt to scare women into believing that a surviving baby will have defects, due to the abortion pill. However, over one hundred healthy babies have been successfully born after abortion pill reversals. Modern science has demonstrated that appropriate treatment can enable women to continue their pregnancy when they change their minds after taking the first pill in a medication abortion. This is not information that Planned Parenthood provides to women.
In July 2015, Cachet – a mother who did an abortion pill reversal – wrote:
“Not following through with the abortion pill has been a tremendous blessing. My little girl is the joy of my life and I truly don’t know what I would do with out her. I am so thankful God placed people in my path who were able to make sure my little angel had a chance at life.”
Not only does Planned Parenthood violate medical standards that endanger the health of women, but it also fails to inform women how they can save the life of their baby if she survives the abortion or the woman changes her mind part-way through. (For more on abortion pill reversal see this site or call 1-877-558-0333.)
Below are screenshots from three of the 104 Planned Parenthood clinics that violate Planned Parenthood’s own medical standards:
It’s quite worth noting that the FDA changes are right in step with Planned Parenthood’s dangerous practices, as they even disregard the above information from the ACOG and Guttmacher, which demonstrate that allowing the abortion pill at 10 weeks is not safest for women. It is, however, a big money boon for Planned Parenthood, and one the abortion giant is quite thrilled about. It’s a sad day when, instead of appropriately correcting the dangerous behavior of the abortion industry, the federal government caves, and makes Planned Parenthood’s practice the approved standard.
