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FDA May Get Easy Access to Abortion Pills: NPR

Activists participate in a candlelight vigil for abortion rights near the US Supreme Court on December 13, 2021 in Washington, DC

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Activists participate in a candlelight vigil for abortion rights near the US Supreme Court on December 13, 2021 in Washington, DC

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Before the pandemic, doctors like Nisha Verma could only prescribe abortion pills to patients who visited her clinic in person. But at least for now, the Biden Administration is allowing patients to receive their medications by mail.

“I think that makes it much more accessible to people that they don’t really have to go to the clinic, they don’t have to be exposed to COVID, they can do all this from the comfort of their home. theirs”, Verma, an OBGYN and abortion provider based in Washington, DC

Advocates say restrictions on abortion pills are ‘outdated’

Last year, reproductive rights groups successfully sued the suspension of the direct dispensation rule, arguing that the rule exposes patients to undue risk from COVID-19. The Trump administration has contested that decision with the Supreme Court, allow rules to be restored. Then the Biden Administration this April stepped in once again allow patients receiving abortion pills by mail during the pandemic.

Verma says the mail option is especially useful for women in rural areas far from the nearest clinic.

Now, the Food and Drug Administration faces a Thursday deadline to complete a review that could lead to the removal of some restrictions on the pill, including employment rights. Permanently easier access.

A coalition of reproductive and medical rights groups has asked the FDA to permanently remove it face to face rules and other restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. As a result of litigation led by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the FDA agreed to review its regulations and report back.

Julia Kaye, an attorney for the ACLU, said years of data prove that mifepristone is safe if used appropriately.

“At this point, with Roe v. Wade It is especially urgent that the federal government do everything in its power to follow the science and expand access to this safe, effective drug, Kaye said.

As more states pass restrictions, Kaye said lifting “outdated” restrictions and making it easier for doctors to prescribe drugs could make abortions possible. available to more people.

Main medical group including the American Medical Association argued that since mifepristone was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2000, it has built a strong safety record. However, mifepristone has many limitations beyond conventional prescription drugs.

Abortion competitors have long jostled for easier access

Conservative activists have long fought efforts to relax regulations for mifepristone, approved by the FDA for use in combination with another drug to terminate pregnancy. up to 10 weeks.

Anti-abortion rights groups have noted the growing popularity of the abortion pill, which many patients choose out of a desire to avoid surgery or terminate a pregnancy more privately. at home. Today, about 40% Patients seeking an abortion use the pill instead of a surgical procedure.

Melanie Israel, a policy analyst with the DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation, said she worry that less supervision puts the patient at risk.

“There is a reason these safety procedures have been put in place, and the abortion industry is really trying to seize the moment to remove those important safety restrictions and make it easier,” says Israel. Abortion pills become more common and widespread.”

Doctors are allowed to prescribe abortion pills in Canada

But a new study published last week in New England Journal of Medicine, which looked at data from more than 84,000 abortions, found no increase in complications after Canada ready-made mifepristone According to a doctor’s prescription in 2017.

Dr. Verma, who is also a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, has campaigned to remove FDA restrictions, indicating the doctor prescribing the drug through telemedicine questionnaires designed to rule out risk factors, including ectopic pregnancy. She said the pandemic has added years of research proving mifepristone’s safety.

“We’ve actually found that this is completely safe and that these FDA regulations are politically based; they’re not based on science or evidence,” she said. “Drugs with similar risks, similar safety profiles, are not prescribed in the same way.”

Verma points to the use of the same drug, mifepristone, to treat Cushing’s syndrome – prescribed in larger doses than is commonly used to abortion. Use of that drug is not subject to the same restrictions as the patient abortion restriction.

Even if the FDA relaxes or removes restrictions entirely, the battle over the abortion pill is likely to continue in state legislatures, where some lawmakers have passed restrictions of their own. . In the first day of this month, a new law effect in Texas makes sending abortion pills in the mail a felony.

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