Protecting Life from Chemical Abortions Act
The Protecting Life from Chemical Abortions Act would (1) bar the Secretary of Health and Human Services from using or declaring a federal public health emergency related to abortion, and would terminate any such emergency already in effect, and (2) impose new restrictions on abortion drugs under the FDA’s risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) for these drugs. Specifically, it requires in-person dispensing of abortion drugs by certified health care providers, prohibits the Department from easing REMS protections, and ties any loosening of protections to a mandatory state data submission to CDC’s abortion surveillance system using a standardized data worksheet with defined variables. The bill also creates detailed definitions of key terms (abortion, abortion drug, certified health care provider, unborn child) and sets forth the data collection variables to be used in reporting. In short, the bill would roll back federal public health emergency authority related to abortion and impose stricter controls and data requirements on abortion-drug use.
Key Points
- 1Prohibition of federal public health emergency related to abortion: The Secretary may not use or declare a public health emergency under the Public Health Service Act with respect to abortion, and any such current declaration would be terminated upon enactment.
- 2In-person dispensing requirement for abortion drugs: The bill requires that abortion drugs be dispensed only in clinics, medical offices, or hospitals by or under the supervision of a certified health care provider, reversing any previous allowance for dispensing outside in-person settings.
- 3Prohibition on relaxing REMS protections: The Secretary and other HHS officials may not exercise enforcement discretion to weaken any requirement under the abortion-drug REMS, and must reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement on enactment.
- 4State data submission before relaxing protections: The bill bars reducing REMS protections unless every state submits aggregated abortion data to the CDC abortion surveillance system using a standardized worksheet with specified variables.
- 5Mandatory data variables and definitions: It sets a list of required data points (e.g., maternal age, gestational age, race/ethnicity, abortion method, prior pregnancies, residence, whether the child survived, congenital anomalies) and defines key terms (abortion, abortion drug, certified health care provider, unborn child) with specific criteria and qualifications for providers.