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 The decision by the Food and Drug Administration comes as the right
to obtain an abortion, established in the 1973 Supreme Court ruling
Roe v. Wade, hangs in the balance.
The medication, generically known as mifepristone, is approved for
use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy and is also sometimes prescribed to
treat women who are having miscarriages.
"The FDA’s decision will come as a tremendous relief for countless
abortion and miscarriage patients," said Georgeanne Usova, senior
legislative counsel at the ACLU.
The restrictions on the pill had been in place since the FDA
approved the drug in 2000 and were lifted temporarily by the
government earlier this year due to the pandemic. That enabled women
to consult healthcare providers by telemedicine and receive the
pills by mail. The FDA's decision makes that temporary change
permanent.
As a result of the FDA rule change, many patients will not need to
go to a clinic, medical office or hospital in person to receive the
medication, but can opt to receive the pill through the mail from a
certified prescriber or pharmacy.
The decision will increase access to medication abortion for women
in remote and rural areas without providers nearby.
Low-income women who face obstacles reaching clinics such as lack of
transportation and inability to take time off work will also gain
greater access to the drug.
However, 19 states including Texas have laws that supersede the FDA
decision by barring telehealth consultations or mailing of abortion
pills. Women in those states would not be able to make use of the
rule change at home but could potentially travel to other states to
obtain medication abortion.
States such as California and New York that have sought to
strengthen access to abortion may make the drug available to women
from other states.
The change is likely to add to the intense U.S. political debate
over abortion. Conservative Supreme Court justices indicated
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-consider-rolling-back-abortion-rights-2021-12-01
in Dec. 1 oral arguments over an abortion ban in Mississippi at
15-weeks of pregnancy that they are open to either gutting Roe or
overturning it entirely. A decision is due by the end of June.
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 The Charlotte Lozier Institute and Susan B.
Anthony List, which advocate against abortion,
said in a statement that the FDA decision
ignored data on complications and put women at
risk.
The groups called on the FDA to restore the
in-person dispensing requirement and add
restrictions.
FDA records show that of the 3.7 million women
who took Mifeprex, the branded version of the
drug, to terminate a pregnancy between September
2000 and December 2018, 24 died from
complications.
SOME RESTRICTIONS REMAIN
The FDA left in place some restrictions, such as
the need to use a certified pharmacy and
requiring the prescribers to be certified. The
ACLU said it was "disappointing that the FDA
fell short of repealing all of its medically
unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone and
these remaining obstacles should also be
lifted.”
The organization sued the U.S. government on
behalf of a
Hawaii doctor and several professional health
care associations in 2017 challenging the
restrictions that it said limited access to
medication abortion.
Medication abortion involves two drugs, taken
over a day or two. The first, mifepristone,
blocks the pregnancy-sustaining hormone
progesterone. The second, misoprostol, induces
uterine contractions.
(This refile removes extraneous word in third
paragraph)
(Reporting by Caroline Humer and Ahmed
Aboulenein; additional reporting by Lawrence
Hurley; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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