As conservative states began to pass more laws restricting access to surgical abortions, more and more patients chose pills, especially because they could be taken in private life at home.
The Covid pandemic has fueled this trend. The Gutmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, said that in 2020, drug abortion accounted for 54 percent of all abortions.
At the start of the pandemic, medical teams filed a lawsuit asking the FDA to repeal its requirement that mifepristone, which blocks a hormone crucial to continued pregnancy, be given to patients in person at a clinic or doctor’s office. Citing years of evidence that medical abortion is safe, medical teams said patients were at greater risk of contracting coronavirus if they had to go to clinics to receive mifepristone.
For parts of the pandemic, the FDA temporarily lifted the personal requirement, then removed it permanently in December. In addition, the agency said pharmacies could start dispensing mifepristone if they meet certain qualifications. The agency is in the process of validating these qualifications with the two drug manufacturers, and reproductive health organizations said some national retail pharmacy chains have expressed interest in being able to dispense the drug in some states, at least by mail.
The second drug, misoprostol, which causes contractions similar to those in miscarriage and is taken up to 48 hours later, has long been available for various prescription uses.
A senior Biden administration official said this week that officials are looking for additional steps the administration can take to increase access to all types of abortions, including the pill method. The anonymous spokesman, who requested anonymity to discuss the Supreme Court’s expired decision, said President Biden had directed his team “in every aspect in every creative way, every aspect of federal law, to try to do everything possible” to protect abortion law.
As part of that effort, Mr Biden’s Minister of Health and Human Services, Xavier Besera, testified before the Senate on Wednesday that he had set up a working group on reproductive health.
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