Nearly anyone faced with health complications, or even just routine care, can tell you that medical decision-making is made even more difficult by politicized health care in America. The Biden administration is hellbent on pushing radical agendas that erode authentic health care and disregard the dignity of human life.
In 2024, Americans have an opportunity to use their voices to reverse the negative trajectory of our health care system and secure ethical, life-affirming treatment for future generations.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Biden administration has gone to great lengths to inject abortion activism into federal health care law and weaken physicians’ ability to administer healing care, especially for mothers and children. That summer, the Biden Department of Health and Human Services targeted states with laws protecting the unborn, such as Texas, by pushing a distorted interpretation of the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) that would require emergency room doctors to provide abortions as an “emergency treatment.” Had the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals not forcefully struck down the administration’s faulty application of the federal law, the rule would have turned emergency rooms into abortion mills and ER doctors into abortionists.
The administration’s penchant for life-ending procedures extends beyond emergency rooms and into patients’ own homes. For years, it has dangerously encouraged women to terminate their pregnancies at home using the two-pill chemical abortion regimen which including mifepristone, a drug known for its frightening health risks. Studies reveal that women who take chemical abortion pills are four times more likely to experience complications than those who undergo surgical abortions. Such complications increase dramatically when mifepristone is consumed outside a doctor’s office. Women may not know that taking chemical abortion pills increases their likelihood of needing emergency medical treatment compared undergoing a surgical abortion.
Laser-focused on its extreme abortion agenda, the Biden FDA disregarded these health risks in 2021 when it eliminated requirements for women to obtain in-person medical evaluations before taking mifepristone, including an ultrasound to accurately date the pregnancy. The drug can now be delivered straight to women’s doorsteps by mail, exposing them to the risks of hemorrhage, infection and coercion by abusive partners. Nothing prevents women from being strong-armed into taking mifepristone by their boyfriends or even traffickers, only to return to their abusive situation and live the rest of their lives with regret over the loss of their child. The FDA’s decision to remove in-person evaluation by a doctor no doubt exposes women to pressure from those with malicious intent.
Fortunately, life-affirming health care advocates are fighting the Biden administration’s chemical abortion crusade and may soon provide relief to expecting mothers. Doctors and medical associations recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule whether the FDA failed to follow even its own policies and procedures in its reckless deregulation of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone. In fact, a decision from the High Court is expected by June of this year. Until then, Americans must do their part to stop the administration and its abortion activists from continuing to undermine women’s health.
The upcoming 2024 presidential election is just one opportunity to champion the health of the most vulnerable among us. It’s our hope elected leaders will advance legislation that protects the health of every person. This month, countless families from across the country are joining Solidarity HealthShare and other life-affirming groups at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., where they will call on government leaders to act in defense of the unborn and their mothers.
This year’s theme “Pro-Life: With Every Woman, For Every Child” highlights the need to walk with expectant mothers, including those facing difficult circumstances or health complications, and this theme is particularly close to our hearts at Solidarity where our health sharing programs fully support comprehensive maternity care and ethical fertility treatments.
Politics is no substitution for genuine medical care, even if the Biden administration thinks otherwise. The health of future generations is on the line this year and they are depending on us to secure access to ethical, life-affirming treatment for years to come.
Chris Faddis is president of Solidarity HealthShare, a health care-sharing ministry guided by the moral teachings of the Catholic Church that negotiates directly with providers to ensure the delivery of high-quality, affordable, life-affirming health care for the more than 40,000 Members it has served since 2016.
Chris Faddis on January 15, 2024
