Operation Rescue’s 2024 Annual Report, which surveys every abortion clinic across the nation, found that an alarming 64% of America’s abortion clinics offer the abortion pill between 11 and 13 weeks of pregnancy, well beyond the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approved gestational cut-off of 10 weeks.
It’s important to note that even the 10 week gestational cut-off is much later than what was originally approved by the FDA. Mifeprex (mifepristone) was first approved for chemical abortions in 2000 with a gestational cut-off of seven weeks. In 2016, the gestational cut-off was moved to 10 weeks, when paired with an in-person visit. This dangerous rollback ushered in a steady removal of safety regulations over the next several years.
Those removals came to a head in 2020, when the Biden administration used the COVID pandemic to temporarily suspend the requirement that abortion drugs must be given during an in-person visit with a doctor.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
Shortly after Biden allowed the temporary suspension, the FDA made that change permanent, and abortion-pills-by-mail began to skyrocket. When a group of doctors dealing with growing complications from the reckless use of the abortion pill regimen tried to challenge these dangerous changes in the courts, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled the doctors had no standing and allowed all the rollbacks to stay in place.
By 2023, Operation Rescue’s Annual Survey identified the number of abortion facilities mailing the death-inducing drugs with no in-person visit or ultrasound nearly doubled – from 94 to 184.
In 2024, that number has only continued to increase, with gestational cut-offs becoming later and later. With virtual suppliers, alone – one of the fastest growing trends in the abortion industry now that in-person visits are no longer required – 17% offer the pill well past 11 weeks, several going as far as a 13 week cut-off.
Many of these virtual suppliers also forego any video or phone consultation with a doctor or nurse practitioner. A woman who might be weeks past the approved gestational limit for chemical abortions need only provide a different LMP (last menstrual period) date to easily obtain abortion pills without any real verification.
Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue asserted, “It is well-known that the later women take the abortion pills, the higher the risks of complications are – things like excessive bleeding, incomplete abortions, and sepsis. How is it legal for 64% of abortion clinics – well over half of the clinics in America – to use this drug so far past the FDA’s approved gestational cut-off? This can’t just be shrugged off as typical unethical behavior from the abortion cartel or a harmless case of off-label use. Women are dying from these pills. Patients are being put in grave danger.”
In 2022, 41-year-old Candi Miller, a Georgia woman with numerous health complications, died during an at-home abortion. She ordered abortion pills from Aid Access, one of the virtual suppliers that offers the abortion regimen up to 13 weeks–albeit with no way of verifying the gestational age.
Amber Thurman, age 28, also died in 2022 from complications during a chemical abortion. She was nine weeks pregnant with twins. Alyona Dixon, age 24, was eight weeks pregnant when she chose a chemical abortion in 2022 and succumbed to sepsis shortly after. Both women might be alive today had the FDA refrained from moving the gestational cut-off from 7 weeks to 10 weeks, clearly encouraging abortionists to use the medication much later in pregnancy with little to no consequence.
A Charlotte Lozier study released in September also sheds light on the increasing complications accompanying the growing use of abortion pills, finding that 75% of women seeking treatment at emergency rooms (ED) after ingesting these dangerous drugs are rated “severe or critical.”
The study concluded: “…both the number and acuity of ED visits following pregnancy outcomes are increasing. ED visit acuity following chemical abortion is persistently and significantly higher than for surgical abortion or live birth.” In other words, more women are showing up at the emergency room after taking the abortion pill, and the complications are significantly more severe than those from surgical abortions.
Many abortion groups have also publicly encouraged women who end up in the ED to lie about their abortions and, instead, say they are having a miscarriage. This undoubtedly skews any kind of reporting for complications, including the actual number of complications or the gestational ages at which pills were administered.
“How many of those women presenting in the emergency room with life-threatening complications are there because they were given this pill after ten weeks?” asks Newman. “When is the FDA going to start taking these complications seriously?”
Danco Laboratories is the main provider of mifepristone in America, under the brand name Mifeprex. GenBioPro makes a generic version of the drug. Both are only available through the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) through the FDA. Danco’s website admits to “risk of serious complications” from Mifeprex.
Under the REMS program, a provider must submit a Prescriber Agreement Form in order to distribute mifepristone, either in a pharmacy or medical office setting. The Agreement Forms for both companies clearly state that Mifeprex is to be used “for the medical termination of intrauterine pregnancy through 70 days (10 weeks) gestation.”
A Medication Guide must also be provided to the patient. The guides for both suppliers clearly state, “Do not take Mifeprex if you: Have a pregnancy that is more than 70 days (10 weeks).”
Yet, 64% of abortion clinics are offering this drug after 70 days, including the abortion giant Planned Parenthood. Operation Rescue’s 2024 Annual Survey identified 350 Planned Parenthood clinics that offer the pill after 10 weeks – 90% of all the conglomerate’s clinics.
Newman added, “It seems the only way to put a stop to this dangerous upward trend in gestational cut-offs is for something like a class-action lawsuit representing the women who are paying the price for the FDA’s negligence in abortion injuries and, even more tragically, deaths like those of Candi Miller, Amber Thurman, and Alyona Dixon. The 64% of clinics that continue to recklessly prescribe ‘off-label’ must be held legally accountable.”
LifeNews Note: This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Project Coordinator for Operation Rescue.
