Mifepristone, a drug used in medical abortion,has come under threat by the Trump administration in recent months. The widely used abortion bill is still legal. It survived a court challenge last year, but state Rep. Dagmara Avelar said she is concerned reproductive health care remains under attack.
The Chicago-area Democrat feared if the Food and Drug Administration found a way to limit its access, it could put doctors in legal trouble.
“We are not going to go and prosecute healthcare providers who are providing lifesaving care, which also includes access to medication that protects people's reproductive health care as well,” Avelar said.
Avelar sponsored a bill that Illinois lawmakers approved this past session to allow the state Department of Health to follow guidelines from the World Health Organization if the FDA were to ban the abortion pill or some other medication.
That's as long as the FDA approved it before January 2025 when the Trump administration took office.
Republican state Rep. Bill Hauter of Morton, who is also an emergency room doctor, said the bill is setting a dangerous precedent.
“It's a foreign, unelected, unaccountable organization that's mostly controlled by China,” Hauter said. “Illinois legislators said they'd rather have the WHO do it because they want to make sure that their abortion drug is available in Illinois.”
Avelar said the WHO is a trusted agency at a time when she's not sure the FDA can be trusted.
“The federal government has decided to not be part of the WHO only during the Trump administration,” Avelar said. “But prior to that, whether it was Democratic or Republican, we have been part of the WHO, so this is an organization that is trusted, not just in the United States but throughout the world,”
The bill passed out of both chambers along party lines and heads to Gov. JB Pritzker's desk.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has raised questions about the safety of the abortion medication. He has asked the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner to review the latest data on the abortion pill.
The FDA approved mifepristone 25 years ago and has said serious adverse events are exceedingly rare.
