Regardless of where they stand on abortion, any physician who cares about maternal safety should be alarmed by the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) mishandling of the safety protocols surrounding abortion drugs.
Oral arguments will take place today at the Supreme Court in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. In this case, physicians contend that the FDA failed to meet its legal obligation to protect girls and women when it ignored significant health risks and in 2016 began stripping away maternal-safety protections around mifepristone. The FDA has eliminated its mifepristone safeguards so much that, as of February, girls and women can obtain the drug via mail order after a brief online or telephonic interview with a remote “provider.” This leaves girls and women with no physician oversight, no in-person exam, no ultrasound, and no follow-up visit to ensure completion of the abortion.
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