A latest lightning rod for abortion opponents, the drug mifepristone—the primary of two in the usual remedy abortion routine—surfaced a number of occasions throughout Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s first Senate affirmation listening to as President Trump’s decide for Well being and Human Providers secretary. The query of whether or not Kennedy, if confirmed, will search to curb entry to it or at the least elevate the scrutiny round it looms massive, given latest (unsuccessful) authorized efforts by anti-abortion advocates to reverse its FDA approval. (To be clear, that will have a catastrophic impression on abortion entry writ massive, as remedy accounts for greater than 60% of US abortions, in accordance with 2023 information from the Guttmacher Institute.)
In questioning Kennedy, each Montana Rep. Senator Steve Daines and Oklahoma Rep. Senator James Lankford introduced up often-cited issues amongst anti-abortion advocates in regards to the security of mifepristone and criticized its widespread accessibility. Kennedy’s response was merely that he’d implement no matter insurance policies across the drug Trump decides are greatest, noting that the President “hasn’t taken a stand on methods to regulate it” but and has requested him to “research the security” of the drug so as to take action.
However make no mistake: Mifepristone has been completely studied over a number of many years and the outcomes of that analysis clearly display its security and efficacy for people who need to finish a being pregnant within the first trimester. Learn on to be taught extra in regards to the claims that recommend in any other case—and why you shouldn’t imagine these myths.
First, let’s break down how we ended up right here.
The FDA authorized mifepristone for remedy abortion in September 2000, however individuals who have been prescribed the drug might solely get it by going to a certified clinic, medical workplace, or hospital, because of an “in-person allotting requirement.” (Keep in mind this half—it can come up quite a bit.) The FDA first eased a few of its restrictions on the drug in 2016, which included increasing the gestational age restrict to finish a being pregnant from seven weeks to 10.
In April 2021, the FDA formally stopped implementing the in-person allotting requirement whereas COVID-19 remained a public well being emergency—that means, individuals who have been prescribed mifepristone might use mail-order pharmacies to get it, a serious win as a result of quite a lot of reproductive well being clinics had briefly shuttered, leaving individuals who wanted abortion care with few choices. Eradicating the in-person allotting requirement grew to become official later that yr, with the caveat that pharmacies wanted to be licensed to supply the remedy.
Then Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that assured the best to an abortion, was overturned in June 2022. A number of states have since imposed tight restrictions on abortion care entry, some have banned it fully, and others have turn out to be protected havens (together with by way of telemedicine) for individuals who want this type of well being care.
Although Conservative judges and lawmakers have claimed that Roe’s reversal would simply “ship abortion again to the states,” a case difficult entry to mifepristone reached the Supreme Court docket in March 2024. (The lawsuit was filed by a gaggle of anti-abortion medical doctors who relied on retracted analysis for the premise of it; they claimed that the FDA didn’t account for all of the potential risks of the drug when approving and increasing entry to it.) Finally, the courtroom dismissed the case, citing an absence of authorized standing—in different phrases, the plaintiffs weren’t experiencing any actual hurt from the FDA’s actions, so that they couldn’t sue. However simply this month, a Texas federal decide dominated that three states (Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas) can decide the lawsuit again up in a decrease courtroom. (Loosened FDA rules on the drug, they declare, undermine their state legal guidelines that closely prohibit abortion entry.)