Lansing, MI —The Telemedicine Abortion Ban was introduced today in the Michigan House.
Sponsored by Rep. Pamela Hornberger, H.B. 6069 bans the use of telemedicine for diagnosing pregnancy and prescribing the abortion pill.
The following statement is attributed to Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing:
Telemedicine abortions are a dangerous business. Women are not provided medical screenings to determine gestational age, rule out ectopic pregnancies, or test for RH factor.
The use of telemedicine has increased dramatically over the past two years due to the Covid pandemic. Telemedicine has a place in diagnosing and treating some ailments, but medical abortions should never be prescribed over the internet. The use of Mifepristone, the first of the two-pill abortion regimen is contraindicated for ectopic pregnancies, which occur in 1-2% of all confirmed pregnancies. Performing an ultrasound to determine the location of the unborn baby and to determine the gestational age is a commonsense safety measure that is skipped during telemedicine abortions.
Listing stated:
To complicate matters, the FDA lifted the requirement of in-person dispensing of the abortion pill and now allows for mail-order abortion pills. Telemedicine abortion in combination with mail-order abortion pills opens the door for increased numbers of coerced abortions from abusive relationships or sex traffickers. Mail order pills could make it easier for an abuser to obtain abortion pills through the mail to be unwittingly forced upon his/her victim.
With the U.S. Supreme Court seemingly poised to overrule Roe v. Wade and send the abortion decision back to the states, Michigan could soon become an abortion-free state. Once that happens, abortion, including chemical abortions would be illegal. Until that happens, we applaud Rep. Hornberger’s continued efforts to protect women from dangerous mail-order abortions and to protect the innocent unborn from death by abortion pills.
Background information:
Abortion Pill Reversal
RLM Legislative Director