Mifepristone and misoprostol are the two drugs that, when used together, make up a chemical abortion, or the abortion pill. Mifepristone first received FDA approval in 2000 and because of the substantial dangers, it came with restrictions on who could dispense it, where it could be used, and to what point in a pregnancy it could be used.
During the COVID pandemic, the FDA temporarily and then permanently abandoned many of the safety regulations surrounding the use of chemical abortion pills. Prior to this, in-person doctor visits and ongoing care, as well as checks for ectopic pregnancy and other potentially life-threatening complications, all initially accompanied the use of abortion pills. These safety standards were removed without conducting adequate drug safety studies, essentially allowing women to order chemical abortion pills through the mail and self-administer chemical abortions from their own homes despite the fact that the FDA label accompanying the abortion pills warns that 1 out of every 25 women who take the pills will experience severe complications.
The plaintiffs, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, are challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone and are claiming that the FDA has overstepped its authority in removing the safety regulations surrounding abortion pill use, thus unnecessarily endangering women. As groups of physicians and medical associations seeking to uphold the sanctity of life at all stages, they are asking that the FDA be held accountable for the removal of these safeguards and for the resulting complications that have affected women across the country.
