USA -Judge rules FDA restrictions on mifepristone are arbitrary and capricious

Abortion medication ruled to be safe as judge orders Trump administration to consider overturning restrictions

Melody Schreiber
Fri 24 Jul 2026

A federal judge upheld the safety of the abortion medication mifepristone and ordered the Trump administration to examine and consider overturning restrictions on the drug as barriers to abortion access mount across the country.

Robert S Ballou, a US district judge in Virginia, ordered the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) on Friday to reconsider mifepristone restrictions, which the judge found to be arbitrary and capricious.
Previous FDA reviews have “steadfastly found” that mifepristone is safe and effective, Ballou wrote in his decision.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/24/fda-mifepristone-restrictions

USA – How doctors will handle abortions if mifepristone telehealth access is banned

One in four abortions in the U.S. rely on telehealth access to mifepristone, but antiabortion activists want to ban it

May 27, 2026
By Meghan Bartels, edited by Tanya Lewis

After a tense few weeks during which U.S. courts twice revoked and reinstated telehealth access to the abortion pill mifepristone, the drug remains available without an in-office appointment—for now. But doctors and policy experts worry that uncertainty and any future rollback in access will make things harder for people seeking to end a pregnancy and place added pressure on the health care system.

Since 2022, when the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the right to abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade, antiabortion proponents have focused on mifepristone. They claim, despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary, that the drug is unsafe. First approved in the U.S. in 2000, mifepristone is currently used here in combination with the drug misoprostol up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-doctors-will-handle-abortions-if-mifepristone-telehealth-access-is-banned/

27.05.2026

abortion pills

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Dr. Ushma Upadhyay

Food and Drug Administration

Mary Ziegler

mifepristone

misoprostol

misoprostol-only abortions

Rachel Jensen

US Supreme Court

Abortion pills “just in case”? Planned Parenthood will offer them in two states

May 21, 2026
Selena Simmons-Duffin

When abortion restrictions are in the news, as they have been for several weeks, research shows that many Americans take that as a signal to stock up on abortion medications even if they're not pregnant.

Now, for the first time, a Planned Parenthood affiliate is offering what's called the "advance provision" of abortion medication. The initiative, shared exclusively with NPR, launched Thursday and is called "Just In Case Abortion Pills." It means people can have the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol on their shelf to be used in the future if they want to end an early pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/21/nx-s1-5827444/abortion-pills-mifepristone-misoprostol-planned-parenthood-advance-provision

USA – They Came for Mifepristone. The Abortion Rights Movement Is Ready.

As the abortion pill heads back to the Supreme Court, advocates have a backup that’s effective and safe: misoprostol alone.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
May 7, 2026

Medication abortion is back at the US Supreme Court—which is exactly where abortion opponents want it. Last week, in a late Friday afternoon move guaranteed to stoke maximum confusion and panic, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a Food and Drug Administration rule allowing telemedicine prescription of mifepristone, one of two drugs that make up the gold-standard abortion-pill regimen. On Monday morning, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito put that ruling on pause until May 11.

But even as abortion advocates expressed relief that telemedicine abortions can continue for a few more days, the order by Alito—the same ultraconservative who wrote the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022—was at best a reprieve. At some point soon, the court’s right-wing supermajority could drastically curtail or cut off access by mail to an extremely safe and effective drug that has been used by hundreds of thousands of women a year since Dobbs, including in states where abortion is banned. Almost two-thirds of abortions in the US now happen with pills, and nearly 30 percent occur by telemedicine.

Continued; https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/they-came-for-mifepristone-the-abortion-rights-movement-is-ready/

USA – A Right-Wing Court Just Moved to Choke Off Abortion by Mail

A sweeping decision threatens to unravel one of the most important pathways to care post-Dobbs.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
May 1, 2026

A federal appeals court packed with conservatives has handed abortion opponents a major victory against the US Food and Drug Administration, reinstating an in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion medication mifepristone and shutting down telemedicine providers—at least temporarily—from prescribing the abortion pill across the US.

In a 3-0 order issued Friday afternoon, the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals granted Louisiana’s request for an injunction against FDA rule changes from 2023 that have allowed blue-state telehealth providers to send mifepristone to thousands of patients every month in states where abortion is banned. Abortion pills now account for almost two-thirds of abortions nationwide.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/a-right-wing-court-just-moved-to-choke-off-abortion-by-mail/

USA – Over-the-counter medication abortion? These researchers say it would be safe

Selena Simmons-Duffin
April 06, 2026

Imagine that you're pregnant, a few weeks in, and you decide you want an abortion. You walk into a retail pharmacy, and pick up a package on the shelf that says "medication abortion kit." You buy it and walk out, and end your early pregnancy at home.

"It's time that the general public understands that this could be a reality," says Dr. Daniel Grossman, part of the research team that published a study Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine exploring this issue.

Continued: https://www.kuow.org/stories/over-the-counter-medication-abortion-these-researchers-say-it-would-be-safe

06.04.2026

Research

abortion pills on the shelf

Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health

Bill Cassidy

Dr. Daniel Grossman

Dr. Sonya Borrero

Food and Drug Administration

Julie Maslowsky

mifepristone

over the counter abortion pills

United States

Health

Human Rights

Study: FDA Regulation of Abortion Drug Mifepristone from 2011 to 2023 Shaped by Evidence and Caution

Researchers reviewed hundreds of internal FDA documents obtained under FOIA

12-Jan-2026
by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

An analysis of internal Food and Drug Administration documents by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that the agency generally followed cautious and evidence-based recommendations from staff scientists regulating the abortion drug mifepristone over a critical 12-year period.

The findings were published online January 12 in JAMA.

Continued: https://www.newswise.com/articles/study-fda-regulation-of-abortion-drug-mifepristone-from-2011-to-2023-shaped-by-evidence-and-caution/?ad2f=1&aid=841596

12.01.2026

Research

abortion pills are safe

Anna Levashkevich

Food and Drug Administration

G. Caleb Alexander

Joanne Rosen

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

US abortion pill access under fire: Lawsuits and regulatory battles to watch in 2026

By Daniel Wiessner
January 5, 2026

Since the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, nearly half of U.S. states have banned or severely restricted the procedure, driving a surge in medication abortion - now used in more than 60% of abortions nationwide.

That has fueled a new wave of legal battles, with Republican-led states and conservative groups pressing to curb access to the abortion drug mifepristone, while providers and Democratic-led states push to expand it. Here's a look at the key lawsuits and regulatory fights whose outcomes could impact access to the drug in the year ahead:

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-abortion-pill-access-under-fire-lawsuits-regulatory-battles-watch-2026-2026-01-05/

05.01.2026

Commentary

FDA

Food and Drug Administration

2025 Was a Year of Chaos for Reproductive Rights Under the Trump Administration

Project 2025 initiated a war on reproductive rights that could escalate into even higher gear in 2026.

By Lauren Rankin , Truthout
December 27, 2025

With a decidedly anti-choice Trump administration taking office at its start, 2025 was poised to be yet another brutal year for abortion rights. Advocates feared the imminent resurgence of the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that made it a criminal offense to share contraceptives, abortifacients, and information about either across state lines or through the mail.

As of now, the last month of this very difficult political year, that is yet to happen.

Continued: https://truthout.org/articles/2025-was-a-year-of-chaos-for-reproductive-rights-under-the-trump-administration/

USA – The Abortion Pill Is Safe. Scientists Fear an FDA Investigation Will Ignore Science

Some scientists are concerned that the Trump administration will use “junk science” when reviewing mifepristone’s safety record

October 30, 2025
By Liz Szabo

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., recently announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will launch a review of the safety of the abortion pill, mifepristone. Health researchers say they’re concerned that the review will be politicized and based on flawed reports. More than 100 studies published over the past few decades have shown that the drug, which was approved by the FDA in 2000, is safe and effective at ending a pregnancy.

Given Kennedy’s history of misrepresenting scientific evidence about vaccines, autism and Tylenol, some scientists say they worry that the health secretary will base the FDA report on unreliable sources.

Continued: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fda-is-investigating-the-abortion-pill-mifepristone-despite-decades-of/