Pro-abortion men led the push to legalize abortion. Now, another one leads the push to expand it.

Pro-abortion men have been the driving force behind the decriminalization of abortion since the 1950s and 60s. Tragically history is repeating itself today, with men leading the push to expand abortion — this time, via the abortion pill under the euphemism “self-managed abortion.” Live Action News has previously documented how primarily white and elite pro-abortion men drove the move to legalize abortion in the 1960s and 70s by selling a number of fabricated claims to the media in an effort to win the public’s sympathy. Those men included Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher — a former VP of the eugenics movement and former President of Planned Parenthood, Larry Lader — a biographer dubbed the “Father of the abortion rights movement” and “disciple” of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, and Dr. Bernard Nathanson — a former abortionist turned pro-life, who eventually confessed to their scheme.

Today’s pro-abortion patriarchy includes men like Dr. Daniel Grossman, who has been the media “go to” for claims that self-managed abortions are safe. Interestingly enough, Grossman has much in common with past abortion “fathers.”

• Lader and Nathanson founded the abortion lobby group NARAL; Grossman served on NARAL’s board for years prior to announcing his decision to resign in September of 2019.
• Guttmacher headed Planned Parenthood and led the effort for PP to commit abortions; Grossman, an admitted abortion provider, has stated, “I provide clinical services, including abortion care, as a consultant to Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific, and I serve as a liaison member of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America National Medical Committee.” In addition, Grossman has testified that he is a member of International Planned Parenthood Federation Safe Abortion Action Fund Technical Review Panel (London) and member of the Medical Development Team for Marie Stopes International (London).

But while even most illegal abortions were done under the radar by actual physicians, today, people like Grossman tout DIY, unsupervised abortion pills as “safe,” despite the fact that minor girls would be accessing them without the safety precautions the FDA currently has in place, should they be made over-the-counter as abortion advocates desire. “As more abortion patients seek out online options for self-managed care, it’s time to meet their needs with services like over-the-counter access to medication abortion,” Grossman recently wrote in an op-ed. “This is the future of reproductive health care, and we must continue to ask politicians, including those currently seeking the presidency, about how they plan to make it a reality.”

A Twitter thread published by the Charlotte Lozier Institute responded to Grossman by pointing out how Big Abortion (which includes men like Grossman) — not women — will be the benefactor of this move. Lozier noted:

Under the best of circumstances, as many as 1 in 5 women may have complications from their chemical abortion, including cramping, nausea, vomiting, hemorrhaging, even death…. Grossman doesn’t stop with saying the abortion pill is safe… he says it’s so safe, it should be available without a prescription. That would mean Mifeprex would be removed from the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS)…. As surgical abortions decline, they want to market these drugs to vulnerable women and profit from them…. Making abortion pills available over-the-counter would put women’s health in serious jeopardy while lining the pockets of Big Abortion.

A “self-managed abortion” is one that is done outside important safety requirements put in place to protect women using the abortion pill regimen. This can include dispensing the pills via Telabortion, Pharmacy, online, or over the counter — all of which are currently against FDA-approved safety protocols. Currently, under an FDA safety system called REMS, the abortion pill (which consist of mifepristone and misoprostol) can only be ordered, prescribed, and dispensed by and under the supervision of a hospital or clinic. Off-label use of the abortion pill — resulting in the death of several women — led to the  FDA’s safety requirements for the abortion pill.

 

The pill was brought into the U.S. by the male-led Population Council, a eugenics organization which sought out investors like The Packard Foundation to help keep abortion pill manufacturer DANCO afloat in 1996, when it “ran short on funds” and had “difficulty attracting investors.” Packard’s investment in DANCO included a $14 million loan as early as 1996 as well as additional grants made in 2000, 2004, and 2009.  The Buffett Foundation (as in billionaire Warren Buffett), which still funds abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, also gave funding for “the development of mifepristone [abortion pill].” Sources suggest that billionaire George Soros (Open Society Foundations) and the California-based Kaiser Family Foundation also invested in the abortion pill.

Today, some of these same “investors” in DANCO are funding studies Grossman and others publish, claiming “self-managed” abortions are “safe.” Sound suspicious? It should.

 

 

While Grossman has become the spokesperson for the move to expand abortion by pushing for the removal of REMS, his connection to investors of abortion pill manufacturer DANCO is being overlooked by the media. Here’s what you should know:

1. Grossman is on staff as Senior Advisor at Ibis Reproductive Health, which is directly funded by abortion pill manufacturer DANCO, as well as the Packard Foundation and others.

2. Grossman is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Why is this significant?

• UC’s programs are funded by the Packard Foundation.
• In past years, Buffett gave $78 million to UC.
• In 2016, ProPublica revealed that “Buffett’s main academic partner (receiving at least $88 million from 2001 to 2014) has been the University of California, San Francisco…” where Grossman is on staff.

3. Grossman is on staff at UC’s Bixby Center, which trains abortionists. Who’s funding Bixby?

• The Buffett Foundation is primary financier of the Bixby Center’s Ryan Residency Program at UCSF, where Daniel Grossman works.
• Bixby also receives funding from a number of organizations collaborating to expand abortion, including The David & Lucile Packard Foundation which also funds Gynuity Health Projects, another group conducting abortion pill clinical trials.

In 2018, the FDA updated its adverse effects reports, revealing 24 deaths of women associated with the abortion pill since its September 2000 approval. To date, the report documents nearly 4,200 reported adverse effects, including hospitalization and other serious complications. But under 2016 changes, abortion pill manufacturer DANCO no longer has to report non-fatal adverse effects, so we can only imagine what the number really is.

Editor’s Note: FDA has received reports of serious adverse events in women who took mifepristone. As of June 30, 2021, there were reports of 26 deaths of women associated with mifepristone since the product was approved in September 2000, including two cases of ectopic pregnancy (a pregnancy located outside the womb, such as in the fallopian tubes) resulting in death; and several cases of severe systemic infection (also called sepsis), including some that were fatal. The adverse events cannot with certainty be causally attributed to mifepristone because of concurrent use of other drugs, other medical or surgical treatments, co-existing medical conditions, and information gaps about patient health status and clinical management of the patient. A summary report of adverse events that reflects data through June 30, 2021 is here.

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