Summary: <p>It’s been more than six months since The Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Since then, anti-abortion activists have continued to try and restrict access to abortion care, even in states where abortion is legal. And <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/anti-abortion-activists-are-targeting-fda">The Food and Drug Administration and its oversight of the abortion medication</a>, Mifepristone, has been one of their targets. </p> <p>Medication abortions <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/02/medication-abortion-now-accounts-more-half-all-us-abortions">account for half of abortions</a> in the United States, and Mifepristone is the first of two pills used in the method, <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/02/medication-abortion-now-accounts-more-half-all-us-abortions">for use in up to 10 weeks of</a> pregnancy.Last week, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/health/abortion-pill-cvs-walgreens-pharmacies.html">FDA issued new rules</a> on Mifepristone, making it easier for people to access from retail pharmacies, with a prescription from a specially certified health provider. Previous to these new rules, patients could only receive the medication in-person at a specially-certified clinic, or through a telemedicine appointment and have the medication mailed to them through a certified mail-order pharmacy.</p> <p>This latest move by the FDA could expand access to abortion care, at least in states that don’t already restrict abortions or the drugs for medical abortions.</p> <p>We speak with <a href="https://twitter.com/amillernirh?lang=en">Andrea Miller</a>, President of the <a href="https://nirhealth.org/">National Institute for Reproductive Health</a> who says this is a step forward, but there is still a lot of bureaucratic hoops that pharmacies have to jump through to provide the medication, and she says this is yet another case of “<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/fda-abortion-pill/">abortion exceptionalism</a>.”</p>
