Backup to Roe: Online abortion pills!

Planned Parenthood (Photo: Twitter)

There's been a strong move nationwide against abortion since President Trump was elected, with more than a dozen states adopting new restrictions.

Federal funding for industry leader Planned Parenthood has been cut. International advocacy and support by the U.S. is off the table. And Trump has appointed two Supreme Court justices who could help overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that created a right to abortion.

So what are abortionists developing as a backup, should Roe be overturned and the regulation of abortion be sent back to the states?

The internet abortion.

Operation Rescue's Cheryl Sullenger explained that legal challenges to new restrictive laws in states such as Alabama, Ohio, Georgia and Missouri could end up in the Supreme Court and result in the overturning of Roe.

In anticipation of that possibility, Sullenger said Planned Parenthood "and other abortionists have been carefully laying out a backup plan in the event that Roe falls – one that has already been partially implemented. It involves the interstate dispensing abortion pills by mail."

The system already has been used by a group called Aid Access, which has boasted of selling 21,000 American women abortion pills through an activist physician, Rebecca Gomperts.

Based in Austria, Gomperts and her staff "evaluate" women over the internet then order abortion pills mailed from a pharmacy in India.

Not that that's allowed.

"The FDA has sent Gomperts a warning letter telling her to stop dispensing 'misbranded and unapproved new drugs' in the U.S. in violation of U.S. laws, but so far, she has [defiantly] refused to end her efforts to mail abortion drugs to American women," Sullenger said.

Gomperts also uses "knock-off brands" of drugs that are cheap, unapproved for use in the U.S. and "may pose unknown health hazards," Sullenger said.

The drugs cost only about $90 as opposed to $590 for the FDA-approved version.

"There is no end to online sites that will sell abortion drugs under various names such as the 'MTP Kit,' 'Korlym' and 'Mifegyne,'" Sullenger said. "Some 'online pharmacies' appear to be different businesses, but are often connected to the same phone number in India. The sites are not reliable and likely to be dangerous."

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said the popularity of the overseas abortion suppliers may be due more to the cheap price than the lack of access in the United States.

"Who would pay nearly $600 for something they can get for $90?" he asked. "There is no doubt if the state abortion bans hold or Roe is overturned, women will be encouraged by misguided abortion activists to avail themselves of this dangerous option."

Planned Parenthood has been trying an abortion-by-mail strategy for several years.

"It involves a woman downloading a smart phone app where she would then submit blood test and ultrasound results obtained elsewhere. After a brief interview with an abortionist over the app, abortion pills would be mailed. Follow-up after the abortion is up to the woman," Sullenger said.

Already, it's operating in Hawaii, Oregon, Washington state, New York and Maine.

Operation Rescue said Planned Parenthood could sell each mail order abortion kit for about $500 more than the drugs cost, and there would be less need for staff, equipment and buildings.

Also, with the mail distribution option, abortion pills can be mailed to all 50 states, potentially bypassing state laws that might prohibit or restrict abortion.