Lauren Dempsey, MS in Biomedicine and Law, RN, FISM News 

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This week the FDA made the decision to loosen restrictions on how women access the abortion pill mifepristone. These changes will permanently allow women to receive medications for chemical abortions through the mail. During the pandemic, restrictions were temporarily lifted to ensure women would have access to this medication, which is intended to be taken during the first 70 days or 10 weeks of a pregnancy.

Originally approved in 2000, the medication is taken over the course of two to three days. Mifepristone is taken with misoprostol, which blocks progesterone, which is an essential hormone during pregnancy. This prevents the pregnancy from continuing. This is not without potential side effects, most notably fetal death, as well as allergic reaction, bleeding, anemia, hypotension, fever, and vomiting. It can also result in maternal death. There have been 24 reported deaths of women who have taken this medication.

This change comes after numerous organizations and the ACLU have filed lawsuits petitioning the FDA to change “restrictions on mifepristone because they have no basis in medicine and only create barriers to time-sensitive care.”

This has prompted the FDA to reevaluate the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) program for mifepristone. They determined that while the restrictions are necessary to ensure safety, some of the restrictions are burdensome to the adequate delivery of health care. In light of this, modifications will include removing the requirement that the drug is dispensed in healthcare settings, allowing the drug to be sent through the mail, and adding the requirement that pharmacies that dispense the drug must be specially certified. 

The FDA has not announced when these changes will take effect, however many pro-abortion and abortion-on-demand activists see this as an important step forward in reproductive autonomy.

Julia Kaye, an attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, believes that “it is all the more essential that the FDA remove medically unnecessary restrictions that reduce where and how patients can safely fill their mifepristone prescription — and today’s decision is critical progress, though far from complete.” She vows that they “will continue to fight every day for a world where we can all control our reproductive destinies, regardless of where we live, how much money we make, or the color of our skin.”

Pro-abortion proponents argue that this is about access to quality care and champion a woman’s right to choose to terminate life where and when she chooses to do so. However, March for Life is one organization speaking out about this “dangerous policy” that allows women “to become their own abortionist,” and while this makes abortion more accessible, it does not make it safer.

According to researchers at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, this decision by the FDA is irresponsible. Tessa Longbons, a senior research associate said that “the FDA claims the abortion pill is safe, yet peer-reviewed research confirms a 500% increase in the rate of chemical abortion-related emergency room visits” and that research “confirms the abortion pill has a much higher complication rate than surgical abortion.” She added that “the FDA is putting women and girls at considerable risk through regulatory malpractice.”