Opinion: This Abortion Pill Could Soon Be Hard to Get
A ruling is expected soon in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration that could revoke the F.D.A.’s 23-year-old approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs typically used for medication abortion.
Misoprostol, the other drug often used in medication abortion, has not come under the same scrutiny. Decades of evidence suggests that misoprostol used without mifepristone is a safe and effective medication abortion option. Misoprostol is also a lower cost medication (compared to mifepristone) and is stocked in pharmacies throughout the US.
Recently, Project SANA published the first U.S.-based study on the safety of misoprostol alone used for self-managed abortion, finding that overall 88 percent of users had a complete abortion, and very few people experienced adverse events or symptoms of a potential complication.
These findings are important given the implications of this court case, but they are also important for expanding access to medication abortion in a variety of settings.