RELEASE: Illinois Right to Life Responds to FDA Chemical Abortion Rule Change

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
Mary Kate Zander
Executive Director
Illinois Right to Life
P: 312-422-9300
E: [email protected]

RELEASE DATE:
January 4, 2023

ILLINOIS RIGHT TO LIFE RESPONDS TO FDA CHEMICAL ABORTION RULE CHANGE

(CHICAGO, IL) – – On January 3, the FDA announced that a rule has been finalized which will expand the availability of abortion drug Mifepristone to include more pharmacies, such as large chains and telehealth companies. This expansion finalizes a rule change that was partially implemented earlier this year, which removes the requirement that women seeking abortion obtain the medication in-person.

Illinois Right to Life (IRL) approximates that in 2020, abortion was a nearly $60M industry in the state of Illinois. Since the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson in June, women have been traveling from across the country to obtain abortions in Illinois. As a result, abortion numbers in the state are likely to skyrocket post-Roe, effectively multiplying the abortion industry’s bottom line.

“Tell me this: what differentiates a back-alley abortion from an abortion that a woman or girl can perform on herself, alone in her own home, without a doctor’s oversight? That’s what the FDA is accomplishing by expanding this rule,” said IRL Executive Director Mary Kate Zander. “The Biden administration is effectively handing pregnant women and girls a coat hanger and telling them to do it themselves – not that the Illinois legislature needs any help in that department.”

Illinois’ most recent abortion numbers suggest that more than 46,000 abortions were performed in the state in 2020 – prior to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. 1,180 abortions were performed on minors and 88 were performed on girls younger than 15. In 2021, the Illinois legislature repealed the law that required Planned Parenthood and other providers to notify parents if their minor daughter obtains an abortion at their facility.

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