Given the level of media attention focused on Donald Trump’s comments about punishing women for having an abortion, most people missed this much more relevant news: On March 29, the Food and Drug Administration approved new and updated labeling for Mifeprex (mifepristone), the medication used to end an early pregnancy that has been available in the U.S. for 15 years now.
The labeling changes reflect the most current clinical practices and safety and efficacy data for the abortion pill. The update will increase access to this safe option in states where medication abortion methods are subject to politically motivated restrictions that have forced health care providers to prescribe mifepristone according to the inferior, outdated and less-effective FDA label originally approved in 2000.
So, even though the so-called pro-life community PR and messaging machine feigned discomfort with the “punish women” message (as if their agenda of forcing women to bear pregnancies against their will is somehow not a punishment), those of us in the reproductive justice movement can celebrate this victory for science over abortion stigma politics, along with our other successes, including the increased use of long-acting reversible contraceptives and a 30-year low in the rate of unintended pregnancies.
Nancy A. Foss
Portland
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