All the legal rulings lately on a key drug used in medication abortions may leave many women wondering: What does this mean for me?
All the legal rulings lately on a key drug used in medication abortions may leave many women wondering: What does this mean for me?
Various courts have recently ruled on mifepristone, which is used in the most common form of abortion in the U.S. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily extended access to the pill until Friday while justices consider whether to allow some restrictions to take effect.
Meanwhile, doctors, clinics and telehealth providers are taking steps to ensure they’ll still be able to offer abortion care in the future.
For patients, there’s been confusion “about whether or not they can access their appointments,” said Dr. Becca Simon, a family medicine doctor in Pennsylvania who provides abortions. “We’re trying to just calm people.”
IS THE USUAL TWO-DRUG TREATMENT STILL AVAILABLE?
Yes. People can still get medication abortions using mifepristone from doctors and clinics in states where it was available before the rulings.
Medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of all abortions in the U.S., typically involves two drugs: mifepristone, which blocks progesterone, and misoprostol, which wasn’t affected by the various rulings. The two-drug combination is also used to treat miscarriages.
There are no new restrictions on mifepristone at the moment. But there could be in the future in some states, depending on how the Supreme Court and other courts handle the lawsuits.
Abortion providers have been devising backup plans in case mifepristone is taken off the market or if they face restrictions. That could include switching to a slightly less effective one-drug regimen using only misoprostol.
HOW SAFE IS MIFEPRISTONE?
Doctors and clinic operators worry that the decision earlier this month by a federal judge in Texas blocking the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication — and media coverage about it — have led some people to question the drug’s safety.
