Ted Cruz Receives Backlash For Stating Pregnancy Is ‘Not A Life-Threatening Illness’ In Abortion Debate

Senator Ted Cruz from Texas received quite a bit of backlash on social media Thursday morning after he tweeted about a plan he and other Republican Senators have to get the abortion pill classified as a dangerous medication.

In a tweet, Cruz explained that the reason for having the pill classified as dangerous was because pregnancy wasn’t an illness and the pill, Mifeprex, couldn’t cure or prevent disease.

Pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness, and the abortion pill does not cure or prevent any disease. Make no mistake, Mifeprex is a dangerous pill. That’s why 20 of my Republican colleagues and I are urging @US_FDA to classify it as such.https://t.co/zDZoCKKg9S
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 2, 2020

However, many quickly took to social media to blast his comments as dangerous, with several women and others sharing their stories of pregnancies that became life-threatening through a myriad of different complications that developed.

Maybe you should stay in your lane Ted. I developed severe pre-eclampsia at 36 weeks & it almost killed me. I did everything ‘right’ & still developed it.Pregnancy VERY MUCH can be a life threatening illness. But we know you don’t really care about any of that.
— Diana Monnette (@DianaMonnette) September 3, 2020

I had a stroke while pregnant with my son and bled out in the delivery room right after my daughter was born. If not for modern medicine and blood transfusions, I'd be dead right now. DO NOT TELL ME PREGNANCY CANNOT BE LIFE THREATENING.
— mgr312 (@MGR31205) September 2, 2020

My daughter & I survived delivery b/c of emergency surgery. Then I hemorrhaged & had another emergency surgery

I also spent 4 months in the hospital to have my 2nd

The CDC says about 700 women die annually from pregnancy or delivery complicationshttps://t.co/8Afnm6a4xv
— Kerri (@Kerri_Deeee) September 3, 2020

Um. Both my pregnancies nearly killed me. Neither of my sons survived and I very nearly didn't either, especially with my first. Google "chorioamnionitis."
— Margaret P Houston (@HoustonMargaret) September 3, 2020

I had preeclampsia - a life-threatening disease *caused by* pregnancy. The *only* cure is to no longer be pregnant.
— Heather _‍_☀️ (@fluffyscikitten) September 2, 2020

My wife had HELLP Syndrome.
Same cure.
Fortunately, by the time they figured out she was in danger of dying, our son was developed enough to induce.
— Kiel Christianson (@GolfWriterKiel) September 3, 2020

do me a favor and google “ectopic pregnancy”
— Deanna McDonald (@deannagmcdonald) September 3, 2020

Others blasted the Senator for trying to make medical decisions for women when he wasn’t qualified to do so and also brought up the maternal mortality rates in both the United States and his home state of Texas.

You are unbelievably unqualified to determine any drug is dangerous. You should be sued.
— dwight thompson ___⚖️_ (@dwightdthompson) September 3, 2020

Ted Cruz’s chauvinistic attitude is part of the reason why the United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the industrialized world. We doubled our maternal mortality rate from the 1980s to today. Pregnancy is not an illness, but it is life threatening in America.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 3, 2020

Childbirth is fourteen times more likely to kill a woman than an abortion. Look at the stats in your own state—not a single death related to abortion in the most recent year for which data is available. Argue from facts not lies.
— Joanna Grossman (@JoannaGrossman) September 3, 2020

With his focus being on how Mifeprex is not able to cure or prevent a disease, others pointed out that Viagra, which helps men with their own sexual health issues, is still on the market—even though that drug can have severe and negative side effects and doesn’t treat a condition that can be fatal.

“The inability to get an erection is not a life threatening illness either. The medication can also be very dangerous. I’m assuming you plan to address that as well,” one woman wrote.

Another, a doctor, added “Then what you think the term ‘maternal mortality’ means, Ted? If you want to talk about dangerous drugs used to treat non-fatal conditions, let’s review why viagra can kill you but erections can’t.”

According to the FDA, Mifeprex is used to block the progesterone hormone which allows a pregnancy to continue, and when used with misoprostol, it is used to end an early pregnancy, which is defined as one that is within 70 days or less since the first day of the last menstrual period. Women with pregnancies outside that timeframe are not able to take the drug, and it can only be provided by doctors and healthcare providers, including clinics.

As for the side effects, cramping and vaginal bleeding are expected, but women can experience heavy bleeding, nausea, weakness, fever/chills, vomiting, headache, diarrhea and dizziness as well. Since it was first approved for use in September 2000, 24 deaths have been linked to the drug’s use.

In addition to Cruz, the other senators who have backed the call for the drug being classified as dangerous are Senators Tom Cotton (Arkansas), Kelly Loeffler (Georgia), Joni K. Ernst (Iowa), Mike Braun (Indiana), Mike Crapo (Idaho), James E., Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kansas), Steven Daines (Montana), Roger F. Wicker (Mississippi), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi), Kevin Cramer (North Dakota), John Hoeven (North Dakota), James M. Inhofe (Oklahoma), Rob Portman (Ohio), James Lankford (Oklahoma), M. Michael Rounds (South Dakota), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), Mike Lee (Utah) and Michael B. Enzi (Wyoming).