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

Nigeria – Unsafe Abortion: Teenage Girls Resort To Potash, Fungicide, Herbal Mixes

By THE POINTER
May 17, 2026

She writhed in pain, blood streaming down her legs. Atop the table, a black nylon bag partly concealed a dark concoction in a bottle and some unknown tablets littered by the side. The air was thick with a strange and strong odour, bloodied clothes, tissues and pads strewn across the room. Her life flashed before her, and even though she was in a mess, no one must know. She would rather perish than to be caught pregnant.

It is often the case that when a teenage girl discovers she is pregnant, her first instinct is rarely to visit a hospital. Instead, she turns to the secret economy of abortion, a world of back-alley chemists, unregulated herbal concoctions, and dangerously misused pharmaceutical drugs.

Continued: https://www.thepointersnewsonline.com/unsafe-abortion-teenage-girls-resort-to-potash-fungicide-herbal-mixes/

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/

Supreme Court restores access to abortion pill mifepristone through telehealth, mail and pharmacies

By MARK SHERMAN and GEOFF MULVIHILL
May 4, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday restored broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone, blocking a lower-court ruling that had threatened to upend one of the main ways abortions are provided across the nation.

The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito temporarily allows women seeking abortions to obtain the pill at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor.
Those practices had been permitted for several years until a federal appeals court imposed new restrictions last week.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pills-mifepristone-supreme-court-louisiana-0533e83d67148fdfec53b1d0d30c1e8a

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/

Safe abortion pills, close to home: evidence from Nigeria

Ipas
April 30, 2026

In many parts of Nigeria, the nearest clinic is hours away. For women who need abortion care, that distance is not just inconvenient. It can be the difference between accessing safe care and not accessing it at all. A new study finds that women who obtained misoprostol from local medicine vendors had outcomes as safe as those who went to clinics, evidence that abortion pills don’t have to begin or end at a formal health facility. In communities where misoprostol is the only accessible option and formal care is out of reach, that finding is not just encouraging—it is essential.

… She knows the person at the medicine stall by name. She has seen them there for years: a friendly face behind the narrow counter, a part of her community. The nearest clinic is three hours away, and she doesn’t have three hours or the money that the clinic requires. So, she goes where she has always gone.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/safe-abortion-pills-close-to-home-evidence-from-nigeria/

30.04.2026

This medication saved a Mississippi lawmaker’s fertility. Her colleagues criminalized it

by Sophia Paffenroth
April 16, 2026

Sen. Kamesha Mumford of Jackson struggled with fertility for a decade before giving birth to her daughter, Gia, now 8.

In 2009 and 2010, Mumford endured two miscarriages. In both instances, doctors prescribed her a medication called misoprostol to help expel the fetal tissue. That method avoids scarring that sometimes accompanies the surgical removal of tissue and helps protect a person’s future fertility. Mumford believes it made her daughter’s 2017 birth possible.

On April 8, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill that will criminalize misoprostol and other abortion-inducing drugs, starting July 1.

Continued: https://mississippitoday.org/2026/04/16/mississippi-lawmakers-fertility/

16.04.2026

News

Julie Kay

Kamesha Mumford

life-threatening hemorrhage

miscarriage treatment

LIBERIA – Tightens Controls on Abortion Drug — But Women’s Groups Warn Against Blocking Access to Care

By Joyclyn Wea
April 14, 2026

Liberian women’s health advocates have cautiously welcomed a government announcement that it is going to more closely regulate Misoprostol, a drug widely used to cause a medical abortion or to provide care for women facing life-threatening conditions during and after pregnancy. But they warn that the regulation must not limit access to women trying to access safe health care options.

Last week, the Ministry of Health announced that misoprostol should be sold only with a valid prescription and dispensed under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist or another authorized health worker. The ministry also says it would increase inspections, check supply chains, verify prescribers, and investigate illegal sales.

Continued: https://frontpageafricaonline.com/health/liberia-tightens-controls-on-abortion-drug-but-womens-groups-warn-against-blocking-access-to-care/

14.04.2026

Dr. Su Mon Thaw

Esther Eyeah David Yango

maternal mortality

misoprostol

Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia

LIBERIA – Gov’t Restriction on Abortion Pill Use, Sale Triggers Public Outcry

Rights advocate demands full disclosure of U.S.–Liberia health compact implementation plan

April 6, 2026
By Lincoln G. Peters

Congo Town, Monrovia, Liberia – The Liberian government’s recent decision to restrict the sale and use of abortion pills has sparked strong backlash from institutions and human rights advocates, who argue that the move threatens women’s health and contradicts national commitments to reduce maternal mortality.

The Ministry of Health has issued a new policy tightening controls on the sale and use of Misoprostol, commonly known as Cytotec.

Continued: https://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/govt-restriction-on-abortion-pill-use-sale-triggers-public-outcry/

06.04.2026