FDA Takes Important Step to Expand Access to Medication Abortion Care
Statement from Lourdes Rivera, Senior Vice President of U.S. Programs at the Center for Reproductive Rights:
“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced they are permanently lifting some of the medically unnecessary and harmful restrictions on mifepristone, a medication used for early abortion and miscarriage care. We applaud the FDA for removing the in-person dispensing requirements, an important step towards ensuring all pregnant people can access this fundamental health care. This decision will expand access to medication abortion care for many, including for Black, Indigenous and People of Color, those working to make ends meet, members of the LGBTQI+ community, immigrants, people with disabilities, young people, and those living in rural communities.
While this is a major step forward for abortion access, more needs to be done. We are at a crisis point in the fight for abortion rights. The Supreme Court has failed to stop Texas’ 6-week abortion ban, which has eliminated the vast majority of abortion care in the state, and is poised to issue a decision in a Mississippi case with the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade. Anti-abortion politicians in 19 states—including Texas and Mississippi—have already passed laws that limit the impact of today’s significant announcement, and 24 states are poised to act immediately to ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. To truly expand access to abortion care, all of the FDA’s restrictions on mifepristone, and other obstacles to abortion access – including unconstitutional bans and prohibitions on telemedicine — need to be removed.”
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