Oral arguments are being heard March 26th, 2024
On March 26th, 2024, oral arguments will be heard by the Supreme Court of the United States on what is being called the first significant return to the abortion issue since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Indeed, this upcoming ruling has the potential to affect countless millions of women and their pre-born children across America.
To put this into perspective for North Carolinians, in 2022, there were 19,697 chemical abortions. These are abortions often done at home, and without medical oversight that involve the two-drug regime of mifepristone and misoprostol. These so-called “medical” abortions now account for 69.2% of all abortions performed in North Carolina. The increase in just a few years has been astounding. In 2014, there were 7,287 chemical abortions comprising 34.5% of all abortions.
The case has been brought against the FDA by Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a group of pro-life doctors. Among them are doctors who have been dealing with the aftermath of the abortion pill and its attendant chemical casualties in the emergency room. These doctors have been faced with treating life-threatening complications in women and completing abortions against their consciences.
They are concerned with lack of oversight, the unprofessional way the drug was brought to market without adequate testing and the continued loosening of restrictions on the administration of Mifepristone.
When the FDA allowed the drug to be prescribed in 2000, it did not follow protocols or study the effects of the pill adequately. To compensate there were safety measures introduced that required a mother be seen by a physician, in-person. This at least allowed for testing for contraindications. There was also the in-person follow-up visit to confirm abortion completion or recommend further medical/surgical treatment.
In 2016 these visits were reduced, and the time in which a woman could take these drugs was lengthened from 7 weeks gestation days to 10 weeks. Today, many times, the abortion pills are given up to 12 weeks.
Further to this, in 2021, the abortion industry lobbied to have even these restrictions removed, initially under the guise of COVID. Women could now access these drugs from a pharmacy without a prescription or on-line and have them mailed to their home. This removed the physician visits entirely.
In August of 2023, three judges from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals addressed these latter changes, that had been brought to their attention by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM).
Pro-life groups and the Conference of Catholic Bishops are asking for prayer as oral arguments are being heard this month, on March 26 by the Supreme Court. A decision is most likely to be rendered in June 2024.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops have a media advisory page and a prayer that can be said to help the justices as they decide the fate of millions of Americans. You can view their advisory here.
North Carolina Right to Life will be following the oral arguments and keeping North Carolinians informed.
Please also make note of the White Paper by Randall K. O’Bannon, PhD entitled “What the Media Missed in Its Coverage of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision Regarding Mifepristone.” The White Paper can be found here.
