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- BBC News World
image source, Reuters
Abortion pills are the most common method of terminating a pregnancy in the United States today, used in more than half of all abortions in the country.
They have also become new frontier in the US battle for access to abortion.
Much of the discussion centers on the mifepristonaa pill of a regimen of two that constitutes the safest and most effective method medical abortion.
Now, a lawsuit in Texas threatens to pull the drug off shelves nationwide, after the federal judge (Donald Trump appointee) presiding over the case ordered a suspension of the drug’s long-standing approval.
But an hour later, an Obama-appointed judge in Washington state ordered the government to keep supplying the drug to the 17 states that requested it.
This makes it very likely that the case will escalate to the Supreme Court.
Here we explain how this pill works and how safe it is to use.
What is mifepristone?
It is the first of a two pill regimenrecommended by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)for its acronym in English) to end a pregnancy.
image source, Getty Images
Mifepristone blocks a hormone called progesterone, which helps the body maintain the inside of the uterus. Progesterone is needed for the pregnancy to continue.
The drug terminates the pregnancy, while the second pill, misoprostolempties the uterus.
The US approved mifepristone for the first time for the medical termination of pregnancy up to the seventh week of gestation in September 2000. Then in 2016its use was approved until the tenth week of pregnancy.
Mifepristone is also used to treat women who have suffered a miscarriage and Cushing’s syndrome, a condition linked to hormones.
Misoprostol has been available by prescription for decades to treat stomach ulcers and postpartum bleeding.
This drug may not be as controversial for its non-pregnancy uses.
Is mifepristone safe?
During more than 20 years of use, the FDA, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), and other leading medical organizations have maintained that both mifepristone like misoprostol are safe.
image source, Getty Images
Studies in the USA indicate that the medication (in its two steps) is effective in about 95% of cases to terminate a pregnancy and requires medical follow-up less than 1% of the time.
More and more, the anti-abortion activists they say that abortion medications, which they call “chemical abortions” are risky and ineffective. However, these claims are not endorsed by leading medical organizationssuch as the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association
According to the FDA, there are five deaths per million mifepristone users. By comparison, a 2001 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that there were about 20 deaths per million penicillin users due to an allergic reaction to this commonly prescribed antibiotic.
where do you get en EE.UU.?
Mifepristone and misoprostol are, for the moment, widely available in states where the abortion is legal.
Availability of the drugs was expanded in April 2021, when the FDA said it would remove the requirement that you have to pick up mifepristone in person for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In December of last year, the FDA permanently removed that requirement, meaning the drug can be mailed.
image source, Getty Images
Abortion rights activists.
The decision was celebrated by abortion rights advocates. And, some saw the mailing of abortion pills as a solution to the abortion ban imposed in many parts of the country after the ruling in Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion, was struck down last June. abortion and that was in force for almost 50 years.
Access to the drugs was further expanded this year by another FDA change, which allowed retail pharmacies to carry the drug. Previously, only healthcare providers could distribute it.
But anti-abortion activists and lawmakers have continued their fight.
In February, at least 20 Republican attorneys general signed letters threatening several major pharmacies of the country with taking legal action if they delivered mifepristone in their states.
And in Texas, anti-abortion activists filed a lawsuit alleging the drug is unsafe, and Trump-appointed Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk temporarily halted FDA approval of the pill.
image source, Getty Images
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