Mayor Eric Adams Announces Tele-Abortion Program
Written by on October 7, 2023
On October 2, 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that NYC Health + Hospitals will begin letting pregnant women obtain abortion pills by mail without having an in-person appointment with a medical professional. Instead, women will now be allowed to obtain abortion pills simply by consulting with medical professionals using telemedicine. The Mayor’s Office has asserted that NYC Health + Hospitals is the first public health care system in the nation to take this step.
According to Gothamist, Mayor Adams commented, “‘Access to safe, legal abortion care is the cornerstone of public health. In New York City, it will always be. We will not stand idly by while [attacks] continue and the far right seeks to strip our citizens of their basic rights.’”
The New York Post reported that the Virtual Express Care program would make physicians and counselors available for telehealth appointments seven days per week. To participate in the program, women would be required to be 10 weeks pregnant or less.
Putting aside Mayor Adams’s obnoxious tone and his blatant lie about abortion being a “cornerstone” of public health, his announcement is deeply troubling. First, making abortion pills more readily available will likely lead to an increase in pill abortions and, therefore, an increase in unborn lives lost in New York City. Second, an increase in pill abortions likely means an increase in medical complications for women. The pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) asserts that pill abortions carry higher risks of complications for women than surgical abortions do. Furthermore, the CLI indicates that offering women abortion pills without an in-person examination would endanger women whose ectopic pregnancies have gone undiagnosed. Third, there are outstanding questions about the legality of sending abortion pills through the mail; until those issues are resolved, it is legally questionable for the City to take this latest step.
It is unfortunate that Mayor Adams’s professed Christianity has not led him to a deeper respect for unborn human life, or for the health and well-being of women.
