What to Know About the Latest Court Ruling on the Abortion Pill

The upshot: Don’t panic.

MADISON PAULY, Mother Jones
Aug 16, 2023

Earlier this spring, the Supreme Court hit pause on a controversial ruling in a massive anti-abortion lawsuit with the potential to eliminate nationwide access to the most common method of abortion. The case, brought by anti-abortion organizations and doctors, challenged the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of mifepristone, a pill used in medication abortion.

In April, a far-right federal district court judge in Texas had sided with the anti-abortion doctors, issuing an unprecedented order to suspend mifepristone’s approval. But before his decision could take effect, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to step in and pause the order while it went through appeals. The Court agreed.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/08/abortion-pill-mifepristone-texas-supreme-court-ruling/

U.S. Supreme Court puts temporary hold on ruling that limits access to abortion drug

The decision means that, at least for now, women can still obtain mifepristone by mail as the legal battle continues.

April 14, 2023
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a court decision that prevents patients from obtaining the key abortion pill mifepristone by mail.

In a brief order issued by Justice Samuel Alito, the court put on hold in full a decision issued by Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that handed a sweeping victory to abortion opponents. Both the Justice Department and Danco Laboratories, which makes the brand version of mifepristone, Mifeprex, had asked the court to immediately step in.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/drugmaker-asks-supreme-court-block-abortion-pill-ruling-rcna79694

This Trump Judge Could Effectively Ban the Abortion Pill

Matthew Kacsmaryk could revoke the FDA's approval of Mifepristone after anti-abortion groups filed a dubious lawsuit in Texas

BY TESSA STUART
JANUARY 18, 2023

THE ALLIANCE FOR Hippocratic Medicine does not have a robust online presence. Its website consists of a generic landing page that appeared in July, a month before the organization was legally incorporated in Amarillo, Texas. There’s no phone number, no email, no physical address, no board of directors listed. A single button, labeled “Learn more about AHM,” just reloads the page. According to records filed with the Texas Secretary of State, the group’s mailing address is located several states away, in Tennessee, but the decision to incorporate in Texas — in Amarillo, specifically — may prove critical in determining the fate of a lawsuit filed in November challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s 22-year approval of Mifepristone, a key component of the abortion pill.

Continued: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-judge-matthew-kacsmaryk-ban-abortion-pill-1234658423/

The FDA’s Step Forward on Medication Abortion Isn’t Even Close to Enough

Incremental progress will not defeat conservatives’ all-out war on abortion pills.
BY DAVID S. COHEN, GREER DONLEY, AND RACHEL REBOUCHE
JAN 05, 2023

On Tuesday, the FDA announced the process by which retail pharmacies could become certified to dispense mifepristone, the first drug in the medication abortion regimen. The agency’s decision filled in the details of an announcement made in December of 2021 that patients would no longer be required to go to a clinic to pick up medication abortion and that certified pharmacies would be allowed to dispense it.

This action may be a step forward, but it is far too tepid to fight back against the war that the anti-abortion movement is waging against abortion pills. Meeting this moment will require much more.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/01/medication-abortion-pills-fda-pharmacies.html

05.01.2023

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USA – Label change for mifepristone could reduce barriers to care for miscarriages, advocates say in petition to FDA

Regulations around mifepristone, a common drug used for medication abortion, make it difficult for miscarrying patients to access it. A new petition to the FDA asks for a label change to make it easier to obtain.

Jennifer Gerson
October 4, 2022

Over 40 medical and advocacy groups submitted a petition to the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) asking for miscarriage management to be added as a use
case for mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medical abortions, and ease the
restrictions around who can prescribe it.

Groups including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
(ACOG), SisterReach, Physicians for Reproductive Health and the Expanding
Medication Abortion Access (EMAA) Project were behind the petition. The changes
they asked for Tuesday would make the drug easier to access for people
experiencing miscarriages as some doctors and pharmacies have become more
reluctant to distribute it after the end of Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2022/10/mifepristone-miscarriage-label-change-fda-petition/

Mail-order abortion pills become next US reproductive rights battleground

The FDA has dropped a requirement for the abortion drug mifepristone to be picked up in person – but some Republicans states are clamping down

Adrienne Matei
Thu 7 Apr 2022

On Tuesday, Oklahoma became the latest state to pass a bill to make performing an abortion a felony, punishable, in this case, by 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. The bill is expected to be signed into law by the governor, creating an even larger group of people – about 7.7 million between Texas and Oklahoma – who will have to leave their home state if they want an abortion.

Republican legislators are passing restrictions and bans on abortion, in expectation of a supreme court decision in a crucial abortion rights case expected in June. Until then, abortion remains legal, albeit severely restricted in some cases, across the US.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/07/us-mail-order-abortions-oklahoma

UK – At-home abortion care to continue after being introduced in lockdown

Several MPs spoke passionately about their experiences of family members having to go to clinics for early abortions.

Alix Culbertson, Political reporter
Wednesday 30 March 2022

MPs have voted to allow women in England to continue to access abortion care at home after it was introduced during the pandemic.

Before the pandemic, women were required to attend a clinic in-person to access abortion pills, but during the first lockdown in March 2020 women have been able to receive the pills by post following a phone or video consultation.

Continued: https://news.sky.com/story/mps-vote-to-continue-at-home-abortion-care-introduced-in-lockdown-12578383

MPs vote on whether to end abortion ‘pills by post’ in England

Scotland and Wales set to make the postal service permanent, while ministers in England end the trial

Denis Campbell Health policy editor
Tue 29 Mar 2022

Women in England will only be able to access abortion tablets online illegally because ministers are ending the “pills by post” trial, MPs have been told before a crucial Commons vote on the scheme.

Medical groups, pro-choice campaigners and women’s organisations say the government’s decision to end the two-year experiment will lead to those seeking a termination breaking the law and risking criminal charges.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/29/mps-vote-on-whether-to-end-abortion-pills-by-post-in-england

England abortion ‘pills by post’ scheme to be scrapped in September

Change in law during Covid pandemic has allowed women to take pills without visiting clinic or hospital

Denis Campbell Health policy editor
Thu 24 Feb 2022

Women in England will be able to access abortion pills more easily for the next six months, but the temporary “pills by post” scheme brought in because of Covid will then be scrapped in September.

Maggie Throup, the public health minister, confirmed on Thursday that women seeking to terminate a pregnancy by taking the two pills involved at home would lose that right at the end of August.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/24/england-abortion-pill-by-post-scheme-scrapped-september-change-law-covid-pandemic

USA – Abortion Pills Are Very Safe and Effective, yet Government Rules Still Hinder Access

If the U.S. Supreme Court fails to uphold abortion rights this spring, more restrictions are likely

By Claudia Wallis | Scientific American
March 2022 Issue

Ever since it was approved in 2000 as an abortion pill, mifepristone has been regulated as if it were a dangerous substance. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration required doctors to be specially certified to prescribe it. Patients had to sign an agreement confirming that they had been counseled on its risks. Most onerously, the pill had to be given in person in an approved clinical setting—even though a second drug used to complete the abortion, misoprostol, could be taken at home. In addition, 17 U.S. states have passed laws requiring an ultrasound scan before mifepristone can be prescribed. Yet decades of study have shown that the medication is safe and that those restrictions are needless, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other medical groups. The rules have more to do with politics and ideology than with science.

Continued: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/abortion-pills-are-very-safe-and-effective-yet-government-rules-still-hinder-access/