In the United States, the request for abortive pills has increased since the Supreme Court, dominated by the Conservatives, returned a historic judgment last June canceling the Roe vs Wade decision, which had guaranteed the right for half a century women at abortion.
mo12345lemonde with AP and AFP
This is a measure that could considerably expand access to abortion in the United States after the 2022 Supreme Court stop canceling its federal protection.
The sale of abortive pills will be authorized in pharmacies in the United States, the American Agency for Medicines (FDA) announced on Tuesday January 3. This decision will allow mifepristone, the first of the two drugs used by abortion clinics to interrupt a pregnancy, to be available in pharmacies in states where abortion is authorized. In 2000, the FDA approved mifepristone to interrupt pregnancies up to ten weeks, when used with a second medication, misoprostol.
A medical prescription will be necessary to obtain these pills, which were not previously available only in some online pharmacies or from approved doctors or clinics.
increased appeal to abortive pills
The request for abortive pills has increased since the Supreme Court, dominated by the Conservatives, made a historic judgment last June canceling the Roe vs Wade decision, which had guaranteed the right of women for half a century abortion.
According to experts, abortive pills are already used in more than half of the pregnancy interruption procedures in the United States. They are increasingly at the center of the political and legal battle for the right to abortion.
It will be up to pharmacies – which will have to be certified to show that they have the knowledge and the ability to treat patients with abortion – to decide whether or not to accept prescriptions. Patients will also have to fill out a consent form.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists described this decision of the FDA “Pas A forward important”. The American Union for Civil Liberties ( aclu ) also praised it: “We are happy that the FDA has expanded pharmacies access to this safe and effective medication, thus lightening one of the unnecessary burdens of the patient for patients using mifepristone,” commented Julia Kaye, lawyer for reproductive aclu Freedom Project.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion organization Susan B. Anthony List, has criticized this decision. “The Biden Administration has once again proven that it favors the profits of the abortion industry rather than the security of women and the life of children to be born,” she said in a press release .