Appeals Court Upholds Legality of Abortion Pill but With Significant Restrictions

The restrictions, which would prevent mifepristone from being mailed to patients and would require in-person doctor visits, are on hold until the Supreme Court weighs in.

 Abortion pill case: what does the supreme court order mean and what comes next?

For the moment, mifepristone has not been banned and access remains unaffected as the case proceeds. Misoprostol, the second drug commonly administered alongside mifepristone to induce a medical abortion, is not at issue in this lawsuit.

 Supreme Court Allows Abortion Pill Mifepristone to Stay on the Market

Justices block lower-court order that would have imposed new limits on drug.

What Is Mifepristone and How Is It Used?

About half of people who get legal abortions in the United States — and three-quarters in Europe — use medication abortion.

Health Care Without Mifepristone? “The Experience for Patients Is Going to Be Awful.”

The alternative medication abortion option brings worse side effects—and less efficacy.

Opinion: Mifepristone saved my life

When I was prescribed mifepristone, it had not yet taken center stage in America’s abortion wars. I did not have to make a rushed road trip across state lines to get my medicine, unlike many women who need the drug but live in one of the many states that have restricted access to medication abortion or passed near-total bans on abortion.

Politics, Not Science, Will Win the Battle for Mifepristone

From AIDS to Covid, the history of regulation shows that we need facts — but also direct action.

What's next for the abortion pill mifepristone?

Access to a common abortion medication currently hangs in the balance in a pair of contradictory decisions by federal judges, setting the stage for the most significant legal action on abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year. Mifepristone is widely used across the U.S. to end pregnancy in the first 10 weeks of gestation. About half of all abortions nationwide are performed using mifepristone as the first of a two-pill regimen. The drug is also commonly used to help manage miscarriages.

A Drug That Eases Miscarriages Is Difficult For Women To Get

It's been heavily regulated since it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for medication abortions in 2000. Government restrictions make it difficult for women who are miscarrying to get it.

How Medication Abortion with RU-486/Mifepristone Works

A step-by-step look at how these drugs end pregnancy.

How Medication Abortion with RU-486/Mifepristone Works

To start the process, a person takes mifepristone within 10 weeks from their last period. One or two days later they take misoprostol. Both drugs work individually, but they are more effective together. Mifepristone blocks progesterone's action on the uterus, making it incapable of supporting a pregnancy. Misoprostol, among other things, starts uterine contractions.

Merrick Garland's Mention of the FDA Hints at One Possible Way to Fight Restrictions on Abortion Pills

Garland’s mention of the FDA approval of the drug is a nod toward the federal preemption argument, says Rachel Rebouché, interim dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law. That argument is based on the premise that where federal and state laws conflict, the federal law prevails.

Mifepristone (RU-486): Myths and Facts

U.S. clinical trials confirmed the findings of studies conducted in France in which thousands of women took mifepristone in combination with misoprostol as an early-option abortion method. The French trials showed the drug combination to be 95.5% effective for ending pregnancies of up to 49 days' gestation.

Politicizing Safety Of The Abortion Pill Mifeprex

The letter sent by Senator Cruz et al. to the FDA reflects their opposition to abortion, and to Mifeprex’s approval in the first place. In the letter, the senators returned to the 20-year old controversy surrounding approval of mifepristone. Specifically, they objected to the drug having been approved through “an accelerated approval process normally reserved for high-risk drugs that address life-threatening illnesses like AIDS.”

The Abortion Pill Is Safer Than Tylenol and Almost Impossible to Get

Mifepristone could—but probably won’t—revolutionize a post-Roe world.

The FDA holds the key to expanding abortion access

About a month ago in Mexico City, I walked into a pharmacy to see how easy it would be to buy misoprostol, a drug for ulcers that is also used to induce abortions. Very easy, it turned out: All I had to do was ask for the drug and pay 699 Mexican pesos (about $35), no questions asked.

The Other Pill

A medical abortion actually involves a set of two pills, to be taken within about 48 hours of each other. The first pill, mifepristone (brand name Mifeprex), blocks the hormones necessary for pregnancy. The second, misoprostol, induces contractions. Together, they trigger what looks and feels like a heavy period. This kind of abortion is generally deemed appropriate within the first nine weeks of a pregnancy. Unlike a surgical abortion, it doesn’t involve anesthesia or require the supervision of a doctor to be safe.

What is the abortion pill mifepristone and is it safe?

Abortion pills are now the most common method of ending a pregnancy in the US, accounting for more than half of all abortions in the country. They have also become the new frontier in the US battle over abortion access.

Why anti-abortion groups are citing the ideas of a 19th-century 'vice reformer'

A federal case challenging access to a common abortion pill is reviving discussions about a 150-year-old anti-obscenity law. In 1873, what's known as the Comstock Act banned multiple items related to sex and reproductive health that many people see as quite ordinary today. Until recently, that law had been largely forgotten or ignored. But it's being cited in the federal case out of Texas that could curb access to the widely used abortion pill mifepristone.