Dr. Rebecca Gomperts said she doesn't care about the new six-week law.
A European doctor says she plans to continue prescribing abortion pills to Texas women through virtual doctor’s appointments despite the new state law that makes it illegal for women to have an abortion after six weeks. Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, a physician from the Netherlands, told CBS News that she doesn't care about the six weeks.
"It's another law that is not based on any scientific evidence, human rights, common sense," Gomperts said. “I will provide [prescriptions for abortion pills] until 10 weeks of pregnancy like I've always done."
Gomperts founded an organization called Aid Access in 2018, which focuses on providing abortion pills to women in the U.S. She has done the same in other countries.
The Texas law banning abortions after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, at about six weeks, went into effect on Sept. 1, and just last week Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed another law making it illegal to distribute abortion pills by mail as well.
That law will take effect in December and people could face up to two years in prison and fines for violations.
The FDA has approved mifepristone and misoprostol to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks, and The World Health Organization has said it’s safe for women to self-administer the pill until the 11th week of pregnancy.
As part of the program Gomperts founded, women can fill out an online consultation form and the organization then connects them with a health care provider who can prescribe the necessary medicine, CBS News reported.
Gomperts can also issue a prescription over the internet and provide an online pharmacy outside of the U.S. to fill it. The pills can take 10 to 20 days to arrive. Gomperts says her service is legal in all the jurisdictions in which it operates.
"Where I work from, it's legal to prescribe the medications. And so I'll do that. And the pharmacy that I refer to is allowed to mail the medicines, on a prescription of a doctor, to the women. So (the new Texas law) has no impact on what we do," Gomperts said.
She added that she thinks “that women living in Texas deserve to have access in their own state, near where they live… The U.S. should take better care of its pregnant women."
The FDA sent Aid Access a cease and desist letter in 2019, saying "new drugs may not be legally introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce without prior approval from FDA."
Aid Access then sued the FDA for interfering with women's constitutional rights to access abortions under Roe v. Wade. The lawsuit was dismissed after the FDA failed to take access on their threat, CBS News reported.
