Admittedly, it is often hard to create a decent title when creating a post. In this case, the title fits, for we have a spectrum of things to celebrate, to lament, and to wait and see how things develop.
First, let us congratulate Melissa Ohden of Abortion Survivors Network https://abortionsurvivors.org/ as ASN received the highest 2023 Pro-Life Impact Award at the National Prayer Luncheon for Life on April 21. After bring nominated, several worthy pro-life entities were subjected to a competitive voting process by their supporters. ASN’s supporters stepped up and ASN was (deservedly) the winner of the top award! ASN also has a new and very impressive web site that displays the wonderful work they do and the astonishing stories of many abortion survivors. More than 640 people have now joined with others to proclaim that they were persons in the womb when their lives almost ended, just as they are persons now.
Next, a follow-on to the story in my last post concerning the FDA’s controversial approval of abortion pills without safety studies, the wrongful product labeling, and permitting women and girls to have access to the pills by mail without an examination or consultation with a doctor. The Supreme Court has ruled 7-2 that the status quo will stand while the current lawsuit and appeals play out.
The case is now headed to the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which has set arguments in the case for May 17. This decision is lamented by pro-life organizations, but it should have been reasonably anticipated. However, the case may eventually be headed to the Supreme Court. Any appeal to the Supreme Court would follow within three months of a ruling, but with no deadline for the justices to decide whether to review the case.
In another legal complication of the issue, GenBioPro, which makes the generic version of mifepristone, has filed a lawsuit to block the FDA from removing its drug from the market if court rulings go against the FDA. I will continue to report on the progress of this multi-faceted issue as it emerges.
And now for the ugly, and there is plenty of it. On March 9, a bill was introduced in the Colorado legislature to ban the abortion pill reversal procedure and penalize medical professionals attempting to do so. The bill, named “Prohibiting Deceptive Practices at Anti-Abortion Centers,” was fast-tracked and passed after only 23 days, calling it (incredibly) the “safe access to protected healthcare” legislation.
Within hours a legal challenge was filed on behalf of Colorado clinic Bella Health and Wellness, a Catholic healthcare provider. Part of the contention surrounds the claim by abortion supporters that the abortion pill reversal protocol is not standardized and proven effective in placebo-controlled studies supervised by an Institution Review Board and an ethics committee, as if it could ever be morally acceptable to do a placebo-controlled study in a situation where a woman is wanting to save her baby….what?… give her a placebo and tell her “good luck !”
The lawsuit reports that Bella has had dozens of successes reversing the abortion pills without complications (and there are published protocols and affirmative positive results, depending on how rapidly progesterone is provided to reverse the hormone-blocking agent). The lawsuit also claims that the wording of the bill demonstrates a clear bias against faith-based organizations, and asserts that “Every day that Bella is forced to remain silent about abortion pill reversal, women in Colorado are deprived of information about highly qualified and local doctors and nurses who would help them if they have willingly or unwillingly taken mifepristone.”
Abortion supporters retort by claiming that “For years, we’ve heard from young people across the state about the harm anti-abortion centers cause — especially students on campuses near anti-abortion centers… There is a clear pattern of anti-abortion centers deceiving young people to shame and mislead them away from accessing essential health care during their most vulnerable time.” [I told you this is ugly, and there are a lot of other problems with the hastily worded law, some parts ambiguous and others with vague implications. After all these “years” they decided to rush through a decidedly messy legislation in just 23 days.]
On April 17, a federal judge granted Bella a temporary exemption from Colorado’s ban on the abortion pill reversal regimen, saying (in response to the lawsuit) that the law “burdens their own First Amendment rights,” but the judge did not exempt other providers of abortion pill reversal.
Adding to the complexity is a provision under the law that bans abortion pill reversal as “unprofessional conduct” at least until October 1. Whether or not the law remains in effect depends on a decision by regulatory agencies concerning whether abortion reversal is a “generally accepted standard of practice.” If they decide it is not, then the ban remains in place.
The Medical Board and the Board of Nursing “held emergency meetings and voted unanimously not to enforce the law until they decide whether abortion pill reversal is a ‘generally accepted standard of practice,’ a determination they are unlikely to make before September,” according to filings in federal court.
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office and several district attorneys overseeing criminal prosecutions also filed statements in federal court stating that they would not enforce the law until there was a decision by the Medical Board and the Board of Nursing. In their statements, the prosecutors also doubted whether Senate Bill 190 even makes it a “deceptive trade practice to advertise or offer abortion pill reversal.” It seems that the wording is only in the bill’s “legislative declaration”– essentially an introduction to the bill–and does not actually appear in the legal language of the legislation.
The implications, if the law is upheld and enforced, could provide other pro-abortion legislators a path to prevent abortion pill reversal in other states. This is also a process to be watched.