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.

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.

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.

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).