By Rita Diller
While much has been written recently about abortion pills and their rapidly expanding share of the abortion market, there is not a lot out there to explain why Planned Parenthood and other abortion purveyors would be eager to fight for access to them in lieu of lucrative surgical abortions.
Recent STOPP research found that abortion facilities paid around $90 for the Mifeprex abortion pill in 2019. That was before the new generic mifepristone came out in April of 2019. They no doubt pay a great deal less now. For example, mifepristone is currently available for retail purchase at Walgreens for $30.40 through a GoodRX discount. Misoprostol—the second medication used in tandem with Mifeprex to finish the abortion—is available to the public at Walmart and Walgreens for under $3 for two pills via a GoodRX discount. Both require a prescription. (Misoprostol is said to be 85% effective in causing abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy on its own, even without the use of mifepristone.)
While procedures seem to vary between locations, Planned Parenthood prescribes the pill regimen via video calls, with no physical exam, where it determines the baby’s gestational age by asking the mother the date of her last period. PP workers then may instruct the woman to pick up the abortion pills at Planned Parenthood or guide her in making arrangements to receive the pills by mail. While it says these abortions are perfectly safe, Planned Parenthood is being sued for its gross negligence in determining a woman was six weeks pregnant through a telehealth visit, when she was in fact 30 to 36 weeks pregnant. This woman picked up the pills at Planned Parenthood, took them, and delivered her fully formed stillborn baby boy into a toilet after a horrific labor. According to the court filing, when she took her dead baby to Planned Parenthood the next day, she says she was told they would dispose of the baby and she should not call law enforcement.
Though Planned Parenthood pays very little for the pills, the average cost of a pill abortion initiated by Planned Parenthood is $580, though it can be $800 or higher. That is current information, according to Planned Parenthood’s website. When you do the math, you can see that there is a hefty margin of profit in pill abortions for the abortion purveyors.
It appears that pill abortions would be much more profitable than surgical abortions for Planned Parenthood, since no abortionist is needed, nor do they need operating facilities, machinery, equipment, or instruments needed for surgical abortion. They would incur less liability since the woman self-administers the pills. If her office visit is done via telemedicine, there would be even lower overhead, though there is a much higher probability that gestational age would be determined inaccurately or an ectopic pregnancy would go undetected.
In the end, while Planned Parenthood counts the money it is pocketing as it champions death over life, heaven and earth weep over the real cost of every abortion: one innocent, unrepeatable, human person and the contributions that person and his generations of offspring would have made to society. Lest we forget, our future is cut to pieces, along with that innocent child, at the demonic altar of every single abortion, regardless of the methodology or monetary profit involved.
For more information about Planned Parenthood’s actions, read the Wednesday STOPP Report at all.org/wsr/wsr-2022-12-14.