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AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) – A new law restricting the use of abortion drugs in Texas goes into effect Thursday.
The law makes it a crime to give the drugs after seven weeks of pregnancy, which Texas contravenes federal regulations. It also makes it a criminal offense to send the medication by post.
Medical abortion is the most common way women in Texas terminate their pregnancies, according to state data.
These new restrictions reflect growing concerns among anti-abortionists about the rise in “self-directed” abortions, in which pregnant people obtain drugs with or without a prescription from overseas or international suppliers.
There is evidence that more women are turning to self-administered abortion when legal abortion is restricted. Texans have been denied access to abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy since a controversial new ban went into effect on September 1.
“Texas is researching the way people navigate restrictions and is trying to make it essentially as unsafe and scary for people as possible in order to deter them,” said Farah Diaz-Tello, senior legal counsel of If / When / How, a rights group for reproductive justice.
Diaz-Tello and other proponents fear the new criminal penalties could make pregnant Texans fearful of seeking medical help after having a self-directed abortion.
What is Medical Abortion?
In a medical abortion, a pregnant patient takes two different drugs 24 to 48 hours apart to induce an abortion.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has mandated that a pregnant person can take these drugs for up to 70 days after their last menstrual cycle – or around the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. However, the FDA requires that the drug be dispensed directly by a healthcare provider rather than a pharmacy.
Even before this new law, Texas had further restricted access to abortion drugs. According to The Kaiser Family Foundation, Texas is one of at least 19 states that prevent patients from using an online doctor visit to get anti-abortion medication. Instead, the state requires that these drugs be prescribed personally by a doctor.
In this new law, Texas lists 27 different potential complications resulting from the use of this two-drug regimen, from an incomplete abortion to the death of the patient to complications from future pregnancies.
Although there is some risk in every medical procedure, several long-term studies have shown that medical termination of pregnancy is very effective at terminating a pregnancy, and few patients experience significant side effects.
Medical abortion was the most common method of abortion in Texas, accounting for 53 percent of all terminated pregnancies in 2020, according to data from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.
Abortion advocates say that patients choose medical abortions for a number of reasons, including the fact that it is less invasive than surgery. Patients can also take the second drug, which can cause miscarriage-like symptoms, where it is safest for them.
“Drug abortion really gives people control of the environment and timing that is best for them,” said Dyana Limon-Mercado, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes. “There are very different reasons for this. There are people who may have experienced sexual assault and who have more control over the process, feels safer to them. “
Medical abortion is different from emergency contraception, commonly known as the morning-after pill. Taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy. It does not cause abortion and is not effective if the patient is already pregnant.
Foreign, international providers circumvent restrictions
The new Texas law also states that no one can offer abortion drugs “by courier, delivery, or postal service.”
Texas already required that the drugs be provided in person by a doctor. This particular clause, however, addresses the growing concern among anti-abortionists that patients are trying to bypass the required doctor’s visit by receiving the medication in the mail, especially given new state restrictions that ban abortions after around six weeks.
This is known as “self-directed abortion” and usually involves ordering drugs that induce abortion online, with or without a prescription, from doctors, pharmacies and other providers abroad or abroad.
The FDA has attempted to crack down on some providers, including AidAccess, a group founded in 2018 by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, a European doctor. AidAccess provides abortion-inducing drugs to women in areas where access to the procedure is limited.
Gomperts said she would continue to prescribe patients in Texas. She told CBS News in September that she believes she has a solid legal footing as it is legal to prescribe this drug wherever she is based.
Texas Right to Life’s legislative director John Seago said he hoped this new law was just the beginning of the state’s efforts to curb online and overseas providers.
“We see this as the future of the pro-life struggle that is going to be … even after Roe or even states are able to pass very strict pro-life laws,” Seago said. “I don’t think we have all the political instruments on the table to properly regulate this issue.”
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood and the Texas Department of Health and Human Services are financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the journalism of the Tribune. You can find a full list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a non-profit, non-partisan media organization that educates and interacts with Texans on public order, politics, government and statewide issues.
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