Our country is facing a public health crisis. Infections from Clostridium sordellii are life-threatening, and they are especially dangerous because of the symptoms – women present without a fever and with other non-specific symptoms, like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. They differ from a normal picture of sepsis and require a high index of suspicion on the part of the treating clinician in order to diagnose and quickly treat. This crisis is being exacerbated by drug-induced abortions.
Under the current dispensing regime, mifepristone is available online, with no follow up or readily available clinician to address complications. If women experience complications and go to the emergency room, they are told to lie about ingesting mifepristone and instead say they are having a miscarriage. This recklessness and deception is unnecessarily endangering women.