FDA Should Lift Abortion Pill Restrictions, Says Former Agency Head

FDA Should Lift Abortion Pill Restrictions, Says Former Agency Head
Jane Henney says the restrictions are dangerous during a pandemic because they require unnecessary travel and contact between patients and providers.

by Marie Solis
Apr 27 2020

For two decades, the Food and Drug Administration has maintained restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone that require patients to receive it from a licensed provider at a hospital or clinic, despite overwhelming evidence that shows the drug is safe and effective to take outside of immediate medical supervision. For patients, that has meant that instead of filling a prescription at the pharmacy—as we do with countless other medications—they must face all the obstacles to accessing abortion clinics, which dwindle in number every year, just to be handed a pill.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/jgew4b/fda-should-lift-abortion-pill-restrictions-because-of-coronavirus-says-former-fda-head-jane-henney


USA – Restrictions On Abortion Medication Deserve A Second Look, Says A Former FDA Head

Restrictions On Abortion Medication Deserve A Second Look, Says A Former FDA Head

August 20, 2019
Luisa Torres

Mifepristone is one of a regimen of two drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to end an early pregnancy. It's also prescribed to help reduce the severity of miscarriage symptoms. But it is heavily regulated in ways that can make it hard for women to obtain. Along with its approval in 2000, the FDA restricted its use because of safety concerns.

In a perspective article published this summer in the New England Journal of Medicine, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Jane Henney and co-author Dr. Helene Gayle argue that the agency should reevaluate whether such measures are still necessary and take into consideration recent studies that show mifepristone is both effective and safe.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/08/20/740809772/restrictions-on-abortion-medication-deserve-a-second-look-says-a-former-fda-head