A nationwide ban on mifepristone would further erode doctors’ ability to provide—or learn how to provide—lifesaving care.

By Isaac Chotiner
April 11, 2023

Last week, two federal judges issued conflicting rulings on the abortion drug mifepristone, setting the stage for a clash that is likely to end up in the Supreme Court. First, a judge in Texas ruled that mifepristone would be banned nationwide in seven days. Then, a judge in Washington ordered the F.D.A. not to make any changes to the availability of the drug, which the agency approved for use more than two decades ago and which has an extensive safety record. While the legal process unfolds, abortion providers and health professionals are caught in limbo, exacerbating the challenges they have faced since last year’s Dobbs decision.

I recently spoke by phone with Jody Steinauer, the director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco, to better understand how abortion care changed after Dobbs and what a ban on mifepristone would mean for women’s health care. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.

Continued: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-disastrous-potential-of-the-texas-abortion-pill-ruling