US states file amicus brief in abortion medication lawsuit

Lou Kettering | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US
FEBRUARY 12, 2023

A coalition of 22 states Friday filed an amicus brief opposing a proposed preliminary injunction that would withdraw or suspend the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion medications Mifepristone and Mifeprex. The case is in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas Amarillo Division.

The brief asserts that the medications are safe and effective. Additionally, the brief claims that the drugs help promote access to abortion in rural and underserved communities. The brief states that withdrawing the FDA’s approval of the drugs risks undermining “the integrity of the FDA-approval process for other drugs.”

Continued: https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/02/coalition-of-states-files-amicus-brief-in-lawsuit-over-fda-approval-of-drugs-used-in-medication-abortion/


A covert network of activists is preparing for the end of Roe

What will the future of abortion in America look like?

By Jessica Bruder
APRIL 4, 2022

One bright afternoon in early January, on a beach in Southern California, a young woman spread what looked like a very strange picnic across an orange polka-dot towel: A mason jar. A rubber stopper with two holes. A syringe without a needle. A coil of aquarium tubing and a one-way valve. A plastic speculum. Several individually wrapped sterile cannulas—thin tubes designed to be inserted into the body—which resembled long soda straws. And, finally, a three-dimensional scale model of the female reproductive system.

The two of us were sitting on the sand. The woman, whom I’ll call Ellie, had suggested that we meet at the beach; she had recently recovered from COVID-19, and proposed the open-air setting for my safety. She also didn’t want to risk revealing where she lives—and asked me to withhold her name—because of concerns about harassment or violence from anti-abortion extremists.

Continued: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/roe-v-wade-overturn-abortion-rights/629366/


USA – FDA urged to let women get abortion drugs by mail during coronavirus crisis

Donna Miller
August 16, 2020

The FDA is being urged to let women obtain abortion-inducing drugs by means of the mail amid the coronavirus slightly than have to go away their houses to get them.

“Whereas any girl who desires to go into a health care provider’s workplace or right into a clinic at the moment and get an abortion ought to proceed to have the opportunity to achieve this, management over one’s reproductive freedom shouldn’t be restricted to these ready to go away their houses as we battle the coronavirus,” New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James mentioned in an announcement Monday — echoing a letter despatched by her and 20 different high law-enforcement officers to the FDA urging an easing-up of restrictions.

Continued: https://gruntstuff.com/fda-urged-to-let-women-get-abortion-drugs-by-mail-during-coronavirus-crisis/78870/


COVID-19 Should Not Be Used as an Excuse to Implement Abortion Bans

COVID-19 Should Not Be Used as an Excuse to Implement Abortion Bans

April 30, 2020
by Surya Swaroop

As the United States is struggling to adapt to the unprecedented influx of patients with symptoms of COVID-19, there is a strong concern that the number of medical supplies available will not be able to keep up with the demand. While this is a pressing matter that the federal government needs to address, some Republican politicians are using this issue to further their political agendas. They have deemed abortions a nonessential medical service, citing the need to conserve medical supplies as the reason abortions should be banned during this time.

The logic of this argument is flawed on every level and indicates how little these politicians regard women’s reproductive health issues.

Continued: http://dailynexus.com/2020-04-30/covid-19-should-not-be-used-as-an-excuse-to-implement-abortion-bans/


New York AG Calls For Nationwide Abortion Access During The Coronavirus

New York AG Calls For Nationwide Abortion Access During The Coronavirus

April 4, 2020
5-Minute Listen / Transcript

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Letitia James, attorney general of New York, about her call for nationwide access to abortion during the coronavirus pandemic.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to turn now to a subject that has perplexed many people as the country deals with a coronavirus pandemic by closing down most activities. What is an essential business or service and what is not? The answer can vary from place to place. In a handful of states, officials have banned access to abortion clinics during the pandemic in an effort, they say, to preserve needed medical supplies, such as gowns and masks. Texas issued one such ban, triggering a legal challenge that has drawn in officials from other states. New York's attorney general, Letitia James, is organizing other like-minded attorneys general to support the challenge against the Texas measure.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/04/827436003/new-york-ag-calls-for-nationwide-abortion-access-during-the-coronavirus


Trump’s ‘conscience rule’ for health providers blocked by federal judge

Trump’s ‘conscience rule’ for health providers blocked by federal judge

By Yasmeen Abutaleb
November 6, 2019

A federal judge on Wednesday voided the Trump administration’s “conscience rule” that would have allowed health-care providers to refuse to participate in abortions, sterilizations or other types of care they disagree with on religious or moral grounds.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan declared the so-called “conscience rule” unconstitutional in a 147-page decision stemming from a lawsuit brought by New York and nearly two dozen other mostly Democratic states and municipalities. The rule had been set to go into effect later this month.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/trumps-conscience-rule-for-health-providers-voided-by-federal-judge/2019/11/06/39aa9b74-00b1-11ea-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html