Anti-abortion group warning Xavier Becerra would strike 'common sense' restrictions on abortion pills

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Students for Life of America (SFLA) is launching a new campaign warning about the effects of the abortion pill, and noting that Health and Human Services pick Xavier Becerra would likely loosen what they say are common sense restrictions on the medication.

The issue became prominent during the coronavirus pandemic as in-person medical visits became more problematic. Becerra, along with others, filed an amicus brief earlier this year challenging the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) requirment that the pill be dispensed in-person.

The Supreme Court remanded that case to a lower court, which upheld on Wednesday its block on the in-person requirement.

“With Xavier Becerra under consideration to head HHS, it’s vital we educate young women and policy makers on the horrors of Chemical Abortion Pills to women’s mental, physical, and emotional health,” SFLA head Kristan Hawkins said in a press release Wednesday.

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Hawkins' group and others have raised concerns about Becerra potentially leading a department that issues orders on religious liberty and abortion. SFLA has specifically asked Senate leaders to reject Becerra's nomination while setting up a petition opposing him.

Their abortion pill campaign will include a 5-figure digital ad buy to inform young women about what the organization claims are the "dangers" of abortion pills. SFLA is also releasing a booklet that will apparently contain stories from women who took the pill.

Both Planned Parenthood and NARAL have attacked restrictions on medication abortions as unnecessary. "Medication abortion is very safe," Planned Parenthood says on its website. "Serious problems are rare, but like all medical procedures, there can be some risks."

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"It’s absolutely absurd that the FDA won’t reconsider restrictions that make medication abortion unavailable through telemedicine," NARAL Pro-Choice America tweeted in March. "During a pandemic, the government should be doing everything it can to make care more accessible, not less."

In a statement to Vice, the FDA said its regulations were necessary to ensure that the "benefits" of the medication outweighed its "risks."

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“Certain restrictions, known as a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS), are necessary for mifepristone when used for medical termination of early pregnancy in order to ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh its risks,” the agency told the outlet.

Dr. Christina Francis, chairman of AAPLOG's previously told Fox News that FDA regulations are in place to "protect women" and that lifting them could create even more suffering. Medicinal abortions, she said, already pose a threat to women's health but that threat is enhanced if they're administered without proper screening for gestational age or ectopic pregnancies.