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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   23859 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

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The FDA authorization for mifepristone is for abortions up 10 weeks, at which point the fetus is, at best, about the size of guppy. In the context of all the shed uterine tissue that's expelled alongside it, the "remains" are not even easily identifiable as such.

Aside, mifepristone is just one of two pharmacological components of the standard "medical" (as opposed to surgical) abortion. The other is misoprostol, which can induce abortion by itself, just somewhat less reliably. Mail-order abortions would not stop if mifepristone became completely unavailable tomorrow.

Yeah. There's some awful theoretical edge cases when interacting with state laws regarding disposal of human remains, but I fully expect the typical and extreme cases to look more like this.

The bigger problem's going to be medical complications -- severe uterine bleeding is rare, but it's not very rare, and it can become life-threatening. Officially, the FDA REMS process is supposed to require patients to have medical support figured out before taking the pill; in practice, it's telehealth. And we're already getting cases where hospitals cite laws that clearly permit care as reasons to turf patients.

While there's charitable explanations (eg, the FDA hasn't really thought about it), the more morbid possibility is that they see even that as just heightening the contradictions. If you're in progressive spaces, these problems sound like every worst combination possible, with no one to blame but anti-abortion advocates.

If.

Mail-order abortions would not stop if mifepristone became completely unavailable tomorrow.

The government can't even stop people from shipping cocaine though the mail I doubt there is any real impact they are going to have on mail-order any sort of pill regardless of the laws.

The government can't stop people from building their own guns, but that doesn't stop them from jailing otherwise law-abiding and productive citizens. They likewise can't stop criminals from purchasing guns illegally, but that doesn't stop them from shooting law-abiding and productive citizens to death under questionable circumstances in an effort to do so.

"Enforcement will be difficult and costly" is not an argument for non-enforcement, especially if most of the difficulties and cost will be borne by the outgroup.

You responded to a filtered comment.

I see both comments.

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