Reproductive Health Technologies Project

Mifepristone took longer to get approved than most drugs—but not because it was unsafe.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
Feb 7, 2025

At his Senate confirmation hearings to head the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. surprised no one by admitting that he planned to order a new review of the safety of abortion pills. While Kennedy claimed that President Donald Trump has not taken a position—yet—on medication abortion, “he’s made it clear to me that he wants me to look at the safety issues,” Kennedy said. “And I’ll ask [agencies] to do that.”

This, of course, is exactly what anti-abortion groups have been pushing for. Since 2022, when the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, abortion opponents have been ramping up unfounded claims that mifepristone and misoprostol are dangerous. Their efforts have included a flurry of letters to the new administration, explicit directives in the far right’s Project 2025 blueprint for the second Trump term, and a barrage of ever-more-extreme lawsuits and state bills.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/abortion-pill-forgotten-history-attacks-mifepristone-ru486-anti-abortion-extremists-new-book/

by Kimberly Lawson
Dec 9 2016, Broadly

As reproductive healthcare becomes increasingly inaccessible in America, more and more women are taking matters into their own hands—and some activists think they should be allowed to do so free of punishment.

In 2012, Jennifer Whalen discovered that her 16-year-old daughter was pregnant. She promised to support her in whatever decision she made, and after a few days, the high schooler decided she couldn't have a baby. From there, Whalen and her daughter began investigating how to obtain an abortion in their rural town of Washingtonville, Pennsylvania.

They discovered that the nearest clinic was 75 miles away, and the procedure alone would cost between $300 and $600—two huge barriers, especially given the fact that the family had only one car. After searching online for another solution, Whalen stumbled upon a website selling misoprostol and mifepristone—the FDA-approved regimen for a medication abortion—for $45. She purchased the pills.

[continued at link]
Source: Broadly

Reproductive Health Technologies Project

The Forgotten—and Incredibly Important—History of the Abortion Pill

U.S.: The Activists Fighting to Legalize DIY Abortions