Women should not be duped into thinking abortion pills offer a safe way to end a pregnancy, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., wrote in an opinion column.
Lankford, in a Tuesday column for the Daily Caller, wrote about medically induced abortions three days before the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.
Lankford, a Baptist minister who has served in the U.S. Senate since winning a 2014 special election, said that "some studies show that chemical abortion drugs can be four times as dangerous as surgical abortion procedures, which are already dangerous."
"The abortion industry has worked overtime to convince women that chemical abortions are 'very safe'—even making the claim that they are safer than Tylenol," Lankford wrote.
"They attempt to conflate chemical abortions with contraceptive pills to push them on moms as a 'safe' way to end a pregnancy. But the drugs used in a chemical abortion are far more dangerous."
Lankford explained what a chemical abortion involves.
"A chemical abortion is a procedure administered by a series of pills, followed by excruciating pain and severe bleeding," he wrote. "The first pill thins the uterine lining and cuts off nourishment to the baby so he or she starves in the womb. The second pill is given to expel the child from the womb. This cocktail of drugs not only takes the life of an unborn child, it also puts moms' lives at risk.
"For example, if a mom is further along in her pregnancy than she thought by just a few weeks, her risk of needing life-saving surgery can increase over six times. Or, if the woman took the two drugs without first having an ultrasound to determine whether she had an ectopic pregnancy, what she thought were the normal severe pain and bleeding from the drugs could actually be a life-threatening ruptured ectopic pregnancy."
Lankford added that potential complications and risks were why chemical abortions were "originally administered by a doctor over the course of three in-person visits."
"Relaxed oversight has transformed chemical abortions into a 'do-it-yourself' procedure," he wrote. "Life-saving screenings to check for gestational age, ectopic pregnancies, and other considerations have all been sacrificed to make abortions easier to obtain. Of course, it also makes it easier for human traffickers and domestic abusers to force these drugs on women since they never need to talk to a doctor in person."
The U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2022 ended its recognition of a constitutional right to abortion, last month agreed to hear a bid by President Joe Biden's administration to preserve broad access to the abortion pill.
Lankford also mentioned the emotional scars of having an abortion, and cited singer Britney Spears.
"It sounds so simple. Take these pills, and your problem will be over—except, it isn't. People do not forget an event so significant," Lankford wrote to start his column.
"A few months ago, social media went into a frenzy when Britney Spears shared that she was pressured by her boyfriend 20 years ago to take abortion pills. After two decades she still described the chemical abortion as 'one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life.' She is not alone."
Reuters contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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