As the government’s oldest consumer protection agency, the FDA has long butted up against drugmakers, activists and politicians. But undermining its work could be harmful to patient health and safety.
Mifepristone is used together with another pill, misoprostol, in medication abortions.
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Mifepristone’s safety in medication abortions has been well established over more than two decades, but legal wrangling leaves the future of the drug hanging in the balance.
The Supreme Court is the latest court to take up the question of regulating a medication used for abortions.
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A rash of pending lawsuits raises questions about the FDA’s approval of mifepristone two decades ago, whether the drug can be legally mailed and the constitutional right to interstate commerce.
The rule change has little to no effect in states where abortion is banned or restricted.
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The FDA’s allowance for pharmacies to dispense mifepristone will broaden access to the two-pill mifepristone-misoprostol regimen of medication abortion, which is 95% to 98% effective.
Abortion rights protesters attend a rally outside the Michigan capitol building on June 24, 2022, following the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Crowdfunding campaigns are well-intentioned and have done a great deal of good on the abortion rights front, but there are less compromised venues for support available.
Voters in Michigan said ‘yes’ to Prop 3, a ballot protecting abortion rights.
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Human embryos are far more likely to die than come to term, an evolutionary trait seen across species. Laws granting personhood at conception ignore built-in embryo loss, with potentially grave consequences.
A self-managed abortion is the termination of pregnancy outside the formal health care system, often with self-sourced abortion pills.
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Lauren Ralph, University of California, San Francisco
The fall of Roe v. Wade will result in more people deciding to privately end a pregnancy, a new study finds. But how often people will turn to safe versus unsafe options remains to be seen.
A plane ticket and hotel stay are not the only costs to consider when traveling to get an abortion.
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Unlike in most countries, US Supreme Court justices enjoy life tenure. Some legal scholars believe that centuries-old custom, meant to protect judicial independence, no longer serves the public.
When abortion care is restricted, demand for abortion pills goes up.
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Abortion funds, which help people who cannot afford the procedure, are facing new kinds of pressures, including potential legal risks and a rising client demand that exceeds their capabilities.
Abortion-rights activists gather in front of the Supreme Court in May 2022 ahead of the Dobbs decision.
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As many as 80% of young people want abortion to be legal, and most disagree with the Supreme Court’s recent Dobbs v. Jackson ruling. This could lead to high youth voting rates in the 2022 midterms.
As the last abortion clinic in Mississippi closes, workers in the state may get some support from their employers.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
Some companies say they will cover travel expenses to help workers in states where abortion is illegal get the procedure, but doing so could pose legal challenges.
Activists protest for the end of shackling pregnant women during birth in prison in New York in 2015.
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Tennessee and Wisconsin are among the states that can jail pregnant women because of illegal substance use, despite major medical groups saying that this practice isn’t effective.