A new study that found abortion pills lead to more ER visits than birth or surgery raises questions about who is responsible for paying for the care, a coauthor of the study states.
“Approximately one in 20 women sought emergency room care for abortion-related complications within 30 days of taking abortion drugs in 2015,” Ingrid Skop, M.D., a co-author of the study and vice president of medical affairs at the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), told Health Care News (see related article).
Although not everyone who reports to the ER requires the attention of a doctor, the costs can be significant, says Skop.
“Even if this were merely observational care and did not include treatment, it would be a strain on emergency resources, and the emergency follow-up care would impact Medicaid budgets even if Medicaid did not pay for the original abortion,” said Skop.
“Notably, 60 percent of these visits were miscoded as being a complication of miscarriage, demonstrating the hesitancy of women to report their abortions to medical providers,” said Skop.
Publisher Withdrew Papers
The study’s findings were based on Medicaid data in the 17 states where the government program pays for elective abortions and follow-up care.
Skop says CLI’s two peer-reviewed studies documenting these findings were published by Sage but were later retracted for no legitimate reason. The findings “were targeted by pro-abortion researchers,” said Skop.
CLI has published the work along with two related papers that were also retracted on its assaultonscience.org/#papers website.
Calls Requirement Justified
The CLI study shows abortion pills “warranted the in-person physician requirement that the FDA struck down,” says Dr. Michelle Cretella, chair of the Adolescent Sexuality Committee of the American College of Pediatricians. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Biden administration removed the in-person physician requirement in April 2021.
“Now that women can use these toxic medications with little to no medical supervision, they are ending up in emergency rooms with significant issues,” said Cretella. “The only way to rule out a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy is to be aware of its symptoms and then obtain an ultrasound before it is too late,” said Cretella.
The harm done to women who have undergone chemical abortions could lead to lawsuits, Cretella says.
“I think that as more women suffer from their chemical abortions, we may see a coalition of post-abortive female patients bring lawsuits against past abortion providers similar to what we see happening with over a dozen de-transitioners who have sued their physicians,” said Cretella. “And when that happens, I know thousands of pro-life physicians who will continue to stand by their side.”
Harry Painter (harry@harrypainter.com) writes from Oklahoma.
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