To the FDA: End the unnecessary restrictions on access to abortion medication!

More than 20 years ago, the FDA approved the abortion pill, mifepristone, as safe for use in the first trimester of pregnancy. However, at the same time, it placed the medication in the most restricted category (called REMS for risk, evaluation, mitigation strategy) making it unnecessarily difficult for pregnant people to access.

There is no medical reason for these restrictions. These restrictions were created for political reasons to appease a small segment of extremists. It is long past time to get rid of them!

REMS is for the most dangerous drugs in the U.S., a category that includes restricted drugs like fentanyl and thalidomide. In every state, doctors and pharmacies need to be certified by the manufacturer before being able to prescribe and dispense these drugs.  

Five years ago, a group of expert doctors wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine that the FDA’s restrictions on mifepristone “no longer make[] clinical sense” and should be “expeditiously withdrawn” “given the very low rate of adverse events associated with its use.” There have been many medical studies over the past 20 years that show that the drug has a 98% success rate and is safer than taking Tylenol. The restrictions are entirely political in nature.  

President Biden has said that he wants to protect women’s access to contraception and abortion medication. Great! Joe end the restrictions on mifepristone today!

We call on the FDA to immediately lift the political, oppressive and unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone.