Pregnant women who choose to use Mifeprex can have an abortion on the 70th day of their pregnancy, weeks later than the usual 4 days. Neither are they required to see a doctor or have his endorsement before using it. With this recent ruling, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the amount of time for a mother to terminate her pregnancy. It has also circumvented more rigorous anti-abortion rules in states that do not fully support the surgery.
Reuters reports that this new ruling in effect allows women to undergo abortions at a much later time in their pregnancy. All they have to do is update the information in their prescription without a secondary consultation with their doctor. The states that hold that abortion pills should adhere to the date in the original prescription are expected to put up a fight and among them are Texas, North Dakota, and Ohio.
Vicki Saporta, president and chief executive of the National Abortion Federation, lauds the FDA for catching up with the "evidence-based practices" that are now prevalent in the US.
At the other side of the coin, Fox News reports that anti-abortion proponents claim that the FDA was not motivated by health reasons, but by political ones and specifically wants to expand the abortion base. "In the end, it is obvious that the FDA's new protocol serves only the interests of the abortion industry by expanding their base of potential customers, increasing their profit margin, and reducing the level of staff and amount of resources they have to devote to the patient," says Randall K. O'Bannon, National Right to Life director of education and research.
The Catholic News Agency advises women who are in their 10-week pregnancy to check with their doctors first to ensure their safety and that of the child. It said the fetus is already recognizable as a small baby with arms and legs that can already be bent.
It is anticipated that the number of abortion cases will increase because of this development. Doctors and nurses alike would be emboldened to suggest abortion even at a later time in the women's pregnancy. Statistics as of 2011 says one out of four abortions in a hospital are medically induced.
