USA – Abortion providers challenge FDA’s remaining mifepristone restrictions in federal court

“It’s really important that we protect … safe access to medication abortion no matter where people live — Virginia is playing a key role in the South right now,” Whole Woman’s Health Alliance founder and president Amy Hagstrom Miller said Monday.

By: Sofia Resnick and Charlotte Rene Woods
May 19, 2025

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Abortion pills — and questions over their inherent safety — were back in federal court Monday. Unlike a lawsuit rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, plaintiffs this time are not anti-abortion activists arguing medication abortion should be banned, but abortion providers arguing the remaining restrictions should be lifted to match the drug’s 25-year record of safety and efficacy.

The suit seeks to make abortion pills more accessible by removing several existing restrictions on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s mifepristone-misoprostol regimen first approved in 2000. The drug was approved under the FDA’s drug safety program called Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS), provisions of which have been steadily eliminated over time but not fully.

Continued: https://virginiamercury.com/2025/05/19/abortion-providers-challenge-fdas-remaining-mifepristone-restrictions-in-federal-court/

Indigenous communities navigate abortion after Roe

States with some of the largest Indigenous populations also have some of the strictest restrictions

By Noel Lyn Smith and Maddy Keyes, News21
Tuesday, Aug 29, 2023

ALBUQUERQUE – Rachael Lorenzo calls it their “auntie laugh,” a powerful chuckle that lasts long and fills any space. Aunties are prominent figures in Indigenous culture who offer comfort when one needs help.

Aunties answer the phone when no one else does.

That’s what Lorenzo, who is Mescalero Apache, Laguna and Xicana, does as founder of Indigenous Women Rising, a national fund that covers the costs of abortions – and the traditional ceremonies that follow – for Indigenous people.

Continued: https://www.the-journal.com/articles/indigenous-communities-navigate-abortion-after-roe/

The doctors bringing abortion care from SF General to Wichita

by GRIFFIN JONES
JULY 27, 2023

A 19-year-old girl walks up to the clinic’s front desk, a couple of her friends trailing behind. Everyone is yawning after the eight-hour overnight drive from eastern Arkansas to Wichita, Kansas. After a wait, the woman is ushered into a private room and greeted by Dr. Jennifer Kerns, an abortion provider, who relays the encounter.

Kerns, too, arrived that morning after an eight-hour journey of her own, via several flights from San Francisco to Kansas.

Continued: https://missionlocal.org/2023/07/the-doctors-bringing-abortion-care-from-san-francisco-general-to-wichita/

27.07.2023

traveling for abortion

USA – ‘I’ll lose my family.’ A husband’s dread during an abortion ordeal in Oklahoma

May 1, 2023
Selena Simmons-Duffin

Before February, Jaci Statton wasn't particularly focused on Oklahoma's abortion bans. "I was like, 'Well, that's not going to affect me. I won't ever need one,' " she says.

She's 25 and lives in central Oklahoma with her husband, Dustin, and their three kids — two 7-year-olds and an 8-year-old. They are a blended family with two kids from Jaci's previous marriage and one from Dustin's.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/01/1172973274/oklahoma-abortion-ban-exception-life-of-mother-molar-pregnancy

Legal abortions in the U.S. dropped 6% after Roe fell, despite an uptick in states with protections

By Farah Yousry / Side Effects Public Media
April 28, 2023

Some days, the phones at the Trust Women Wichita clinic ring nonstop, and staff are unable to keep up. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal protections for abortion last summer, the clinic has had a math problem: too many patients desperate for care with limited time and resources to see them.

“We are averaging about 500 patients a month, give or take,” said Ashley Brink, a clinic director at Trust Women Wichita. “We're located in Kansas, but we only see about 100 patients a month that are actually from Kansas, the other 400-plus are from other states.”

Continued: https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/legal-abortions-in-the-us-dropped-6-after-roe-fell-despite-an-uptick-in-states-with-protections/

Abortion Bans in the U.S. Created a Human Rights Crisis

With reproductive rights already stripped away in half the country, anti-abortion activists are suing the FDA to ban the abortion drug mifepristone.

Jennifer Kerns
Published Mar. 29, 2023

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion created a human rights crisis in vast swaths of the country.

Twenty-four states have banned abortion or are likely to do so. Clinics in neighboring states are overwhelmed with demand for appointments. Most of the patients I care for at Trust Women clinic in Kansas describe making numerous phone calls and waiting weeks for an appointment. A few months ago, our clinic received over 16,000 phone calls for an appointment in just one day.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/abortion-bans-in-the-us-created-a-human-rights-crisis

29.03.2023

Commentary

Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA

self-managed abortion

Abortion clinics regroup, rebuild after violent attacks: ‘There’s more work to be done’

Christine Fernando, USA TODAY
March 25, 2023

As a detective led her through the charred remains of the clinic, Julie Burkhart was heartbroken. Everything was black and melted. The smell was overwhelming. Fire and smoke damage had engulfed the building from the basement to the attic.

“I knew then that we were going to have a long road ahead,” said Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access in Casper, Wyoming.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/25/abortion-clinics-violence-attacks-rebound-rebuilding/11484439002/

25.03.2023

anti-choice terrorism

anti-choice violence

Dr. Colleen McNicholas

Dr. David Gunn

Dr. George Tiller

Feminist Majority Foundation

National Abortion Federation

Patti Pace-Halpin

Planned Parenthood of Illinois

Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri

pro-life killings

pro-life violence

Trust Women clinic

Trust Women Foundation

Wellspring Health Access

USA – Why an ulcer drug could be the last option for many abortion patients

February 24, 2023
Sarah McCammon
3-Minute Listen with Transcript

A federal judge in Texas could rule as soon as today on whether to cut off access to a key medication abortion protocol, giving lawyers until day's end to submit additional arguments. Fearing another major blow to abortion access, some providers are already considering alternatives.

At the Trust Women clinic in Wichita, Kansas, it's already been crisis mode for months. And now clinic Director Ashley Brink says the staff is bracing for another — maybe even bigger — wave of uncertainty.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/24/1159075709/abortion-drug-mifepristone-misoprotol-texas-case

USA – How Abortion Providers Are Planning for a Ruling That Could Force Mifepristone Off the Market

2/21/2023
by PHOEBE KOLBERT, Ms. Magazine

The ruling in a lawsuit out of Texas seeking to reverse FDA approval of mifepristone is expected as soon as this week. If Trump-appointed District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk rules in favor of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the far-right group bringing suit, mifepristone would be forced off the market and clinics’ capacities could significantly fall.

The Trust Women clinic in Wichita, Kansas—where abortion is currently legal up to 21 weeks—already gets more than 16,000 calls a day and is booking out weeks ahead. If the clinic is forced to stop providing medication abortions, its capacity will be greatly reduced. Aspiration abortions must be performed in person, with specialized equipment, and appointments can be more than three hours long—three times that of medication abortion appointments. Ashley Brink, the clinic director of Trust Women, said the clinic would only be able to serve a fraction of their current patient load if they could only provide aspiration abortions.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/02/21/texas-mifepristone-lawsuit-criminalize-abortion/

A Trump Judge Could Ban Abortion Pills In the US Within Days

One of the most common and safe abortion drugscould be banned nationwide this week—regardless of a state’s abortion restrictions.

By Carter Sherman
February 21, 2023

One of the most common and safe abortion drugs could be banned nationwide as soon as Friday, thanks to a lawsuit that could impact every state in the country—regardless of that state’s abortion restrictions.

Abortion rights supporters and foes alike are bracing for a ruling in a lawsuit, filed late last year, that accused the Food and Drug Administration of overstepping its authority when it approved the use of the drug mifepristone for abortions. Although the lawsuit was initially regarded as something of a longshot legal oddity among abortion rights activists, that attitude quickly changed once people realized that the suit was sure to be overseen by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump and is widely known for his conservative views on abortion.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjkgkd/us-abortion-pill-ban-lawsuit