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

South Korea – ‘Abortion pills’ uncovered in more than 3,000 cases, yet only 7 referred for investigation··· cannot block them or punish, yet indiscriminately labeled ‘illegal’

2026.07.21
By Kim Chan-Ho

Over the past five years, the government uncovered more than 3,000 cases of online sales of abortion medications (abortifacients), but only seven of them were actually referred for investigation. Because there is no provision that penalizes the act of purchasing abortion pills in the first place, crackdowns have clear limits in their effectiveness. Critics say the government is labeling as ‘illegal’ drugs that it can neither effectively block nor has grounds to punish, which in turn makes it impossible to grasp the realities of purchase·use and leaves the health rights of women in a blind spot.

According to Kyunghyang Shinmun reporting compiled on the 20th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety detected the following numbers of abortion medication sales cases: 414 in 2021, 643 in 2022, 491 in 2023, 741 in 2024, 682 in 2025, and 218 from January to May this year, for a total of 3,189.

Continued: https://www.khan.co.kr/en/article/202607210634047

21.07.2026

News

Association of Pharmacists for a Healthy Society

Kang Kyung-yeon

mifepristone

Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

Mother and Child Health Act

Shifting the Burden: Why South Korea’s OB-GYNs Reject ‘Discretion’ on Abortion Pills

Private-practice obstetricians demand clear clinical boundaries, emergency transfer protocols, and legal protections before the government approves Mifegyne.

Seungwook Choi
07/19/2026

The South Korean government's proposal to leave the prescription of abortion medication up to the professional discretion of individual physicians is facing fierce resistance. Private-practice obstetricians and gynecologists are pushing back strongly, labeling the move an attempt by the state to shift legal and medical responsibility onto front-line doctors.

On July 15, the Direct Election Korean Association of Private Practice Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement declaring that before the medical abortion pill Mifegyne (mifepristone) is introduced, authorities must establish definitive guidelines on gestational age limits, follow-up care protocols, and the legal liability of clinicians. This followed a similar warning the previous day from the Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Continued: https://hi.kormedi.com/en-us/articles/2834872

19.07.2026

News

Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Korean Association of Private Practice Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Mifegyne

mifepristone

South Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

Latin American Feminists Train U.S.-Based Doulas on New Mifepristone Protocol for Second-Trimester Abortions

U.S. abortion doulas are turning to decades of Latin American feminist expertise to make second-trimester medication abortions safer, less painful and more accessible

June 5, 2026
by Carrie N. Baker

Across the world, women living in countries that ban licensed clinicians from performing abortions have always found ways to access abortion outside of the medical system. Today, abortion pills have made it much safer.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and many states banned abortion, U.S.-based activists turned to Latin American feminists who have run collectives supporting women seeking abortions outside of the medical system for decades.

With their guidance, U.S.-based activists have created their own feminist collectives that now serve thousands of women and girls each month in 38 states that ban and restrict abortion access, including the entire Southeast and much of the Midwest of the country. These collectives provide free abortion pills and the doula support to see them through.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2026/06/05/two-mifepristone-home-self-managed-abortion-pills-later-late-term-second-trimester-pregnancy/

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

Supreme Court allows abortion pill to remain available by mail nationwide

The decision indefinitely blocks an appeals court ruling that would have restricted availability of the drug, especially in states with strict anti-abortion laws.

May 14, 2026
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ensured Thursday that the abortion pill mifepristone can continue to be available by mail without an in-person appointment with a clinician.

A ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 1 had imperiled widespread access to the pill. Now, the Supreme Court has granted emergency requests brought by drugmakers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro seeking to block that ruling.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-allows-abortion-pill-mifepristone-available-mail-rcna344081

Trump Thought He’d Escaped the Abortion Trap

Now the Supreme Court is facing a blockbuster case that threatens to spin out of control.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
May 12, 2026

By all accounts, President Donald Trump really, really did not want abortion to become a major issue this election year. But here we are, six months before the midterms, and abortion pills are back at the Supreme Court, as the state of Louisiana and abortion drug manufacturers ask to fast-track oral arguments in what is shaping up to be a blockbuster case. Conservatives are invoking the Comstock Act. And Trump’s Food and Drug Administration has been AWOL, while its top official has been forced to resign.

The swift escalation of the showdown between Louisiana and the FDA over telemedicine abortion highlights just how little control Trump has over the abortion issue—both in terms of the timeline and the outcome. Meanwhile, the case is sparking confusion, uncertainty, and dread among patients, providers, and advocates across the US.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/mifepristone-scotus-trump-thought-hed-escaped-the-abortion-trap/

USA – How to Get Abortion Pills, Regardless of What the Courts Say

Even as courts and politicians attempt to restrict abortion access, medication abortion remains widely available through international telehealth providers, community networks and vetted online sources.

May 11, 2026
by Carrie N. Baker, Ms. Magazine

As legal battles over abortion pills continue to play out in the courts, many people across the United States are asking the same urgent question: If the Supreme Court or lower courts restrict access to mifepristone by mail, how can American women still get abortion pills?

The short answer: There are still multiple ways to safely and affordably access abortion medication.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2026/05/11/how-to-get-abortion-pills/

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/

As the U.S. stares down nationwide ban on abortion pill telemedicine, can Americans get access through Canada’s new citizenship law?

Riley Cohen, Asheesh Moosapeta
May 4, 2026

As a legal battle threatens telemedicine access to abortion medication across the United States, millions of those at risk of losing access are U.S.-Canadian dual citizens under Canada’s new citizenship law.

Americans across the United States may soon find themselves in the situation where they can be issued and filled prescriptions under Canadian law, only to be denied access to their medication under U.S. regulations.

Continued: https://www.cicnews.com/2026/05/us-potential-ban-telemedicine-abortion-proof-of-citizenship-0574931.html

04.05.2026