Women’s Rights in the United States
Mailed Home Abortion Pills – US Medicines Agency paves the way
A woman holds tablets containing the active substance mifepristone, which is used for abortions
© Eastnews / Imago Images
It started as a temporary solution to the pandemic. It is now permanent: women in the US can have pills for an abortion mailed to their homes.
The abortion debate in the US is highly charged. Conservative forces and religious fundamentalists across the country want to restrict the rights of women to choose their own bodies. Activists vigorously defend themselves and stand up for their rights in demonstrations. Much is at stake: Abortion is currently the top priority in the US Supreme Court.
Right in the middle of the heated social debate, a decision has to be made that will facilitate access to abortions. The US Food and Drug Administration is making abortion pills easier to access.
No more long journeys for an abortion
The new regulation allows women to use telemedicine to make an appointment with a provider who can prescribe abortion pills. He can then send the pills directly to the patient by post. This makes it easier for women to have access to abortions, who would otherwise have had to take a long drive to an abortion clinic or who preferred an abortion at home, reports the New York Times.
The process requires two drugs with the active ingredients mifepristone and misprostol, which must be taken over several days. The US drug agency FDA had already suspended the requirement to only dispense mifepristone locally and directly this year. The reason was Corona. The remotely dispensing of the drug should initially only apply during the period of the pandemic. Now it remains permanent.
The BBC quotes Georgeanne Usova of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as saying, “The drug agency’s decision will be a tremendous relief for countless abortion and miscarriage patients.”
Some states have already tightened their laws
Criticism of the decision by anti-abortionists was not long in coming. And many states already have corresponding, stricter laws. Remote diagnosis for medical abortions is banned in 19 states, primarily in the southern and midwestern United States. According to the New York Times, this and other conservative states are expected to legislate to further curb access to abortion pills.
The newspaper quotes Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. She says that this year, presumably in anticipation of such a decision, six states banned pills from being mailed and seven states passed laws requiring pills to be purchased in person.
In particular, a controversial, very strict abortion law from Texas had recently made headlines. What is unique about the law is that it enables private individuals to take civil action against anyone who helps with an abortion. The scheme allows lawsuits against a wide range of people – from taxi drivers driving a woman to the clinic to parents who financially support their daughter with an abortion.
In mid-December, the US Supreme Court decided to keep the strict abortion law in Texas in effect for the time being. It allows abortion providers to take legal action against it. In principle, according to a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court from 1973 in the USA, abortions are allowed until the fetus is viable – today until about the 24th week of pregnancy. Under ex-President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court was given a clear conservative majority through new appointments.
Sources: New York Times, BBC