European doctor says she's defying the FDA and will continue mailing abortion pills to women in the U.S.
A European doctor said her organization will continue to send so-called abortion pills to women in the U.S. even though the Food and Drug Administration warned her to stop. "I will not be deterred," Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, the leader of Aid Access, said in a statement posted on the organization's Facebook page.
Through Aid Access, which Gomperts founded in 2018, women who are healthy and less than nine weeks pregnant can go through an online consultation to obtain the pills, mifepristone and misoprostol.
Gomperts said in her statement last month that Aid Access provides "telemedical abortion services to women who cannot otherwise access safe abortions because of costs, domestic violence, distance, or other reasons."
In reviewing Aid Access' site, the FDA determined the organization violated several sections of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
"The sale of misbranded and unapproved new drugs poses an inherent risk to consumers who purchase those products," the FDA said in a letter to Aid Access in March. "Unapproved new drugs do not have the same assurance of safety and effectiveness as those drugs subject to FDA oversight."
The FDA requested that Aid Access "immediately cease causing the introduction of these violative drugs into U.S. commerce."
Gomperts said her lawyer responded to the FDA's letter.
The pills cost 80 euros – about $90 – and Aid Access offers financial support for those who cannot afford to buy them, according to the group's website. One in four Aid Access customers cannot afford the pills, Gomperts said in her statement.
The doctor said she would not turn away American women seeking to terminate their pregnancies prior to nine weeks. "I will continue to protect the human and constitutional right of my patients to access safe abortion services," she said.
Gomperts is a doctor in Austria who has studied in the Netherlands, U.S. and Sweden. She accused the FDA of violating the rights of women seeking safe abortions and said her services are essential as more states in the U.S. are passing strict anti-abortion laws.
The doctor said she prescribed the pills to 2,581 of the 11,108 women who consulted her last year, saying abortions done with the pills before 10 weeks of pregnancy are safer than childbirth and are similar to spontaneous miscarriages.
Gomperts also runs Women on Waves, an advocacy group for women's rights that works to make abortions easily accessible for all women.