The founder of an online abortion pill service is refusing to turn away customers despite written warning from the FDA.
Dr. Rebecca Gomperts is a Dutch medical professional who founded AID Access in April 2018 to offer prescriptions to U.S. women who want to end their pregnancies before nine weeks. The women must participate in an online consultation, and the prescriptions are filled at an independent pharmacy, according to previous coverage in the ABA Journal.
But Gomperts is not backing down after the Food and Drug Administration sent her a warning letter telling her to “immediately cease” introducing the drugs into the United States.
Dr. Gomperts said in a statement that the FDA is “violating the rights of all U.S. women seeking safe abortion by preventing them from accessing necessary medications,” Rewire News reports.
When women “seeking to terminate their pregnancies prior to nine weeks consult me, I will not turn them away,” Gomperts said.
The Aid Access service is only $95, but Gomperts also offer the drugs for free or at a reduced price if women can’t afford it. The FDA sent the warning letter in March and to another online provider called Rablon, according to Rewire News and CNN.
According to the letter, the FDA-approved prescription mifepristone drug is marketed under the brand name Mifeprex, and carries a label warning of the risk of serious or even life-threatening effects. Mifeprex is only available in the United States through certain health care settings that are certified in a risk mitigation program, the letter states.
Meanwhile, Gomperts believes the FDA restrictions on abortion medications are “based on politics, not science.”
Gomberts battle with the FDA comes amid abortion bans being passed in many conservative states.
Press play below for more on this story.
