The agency that regulates the use of drugs in the United States has definitively suspended, on Thursday (16), the requirement that women who choose to perform abortion procedures through medication have to seek, in person, the pills in clinics or places graduates. In practice, the ruling allows these drugs to be shipped by mail.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) decision comes as the US Supreme Court debates the issue — in cases involving state legislation — and indicates that it could pave the way for restricting abortion rights in the country.
The drug-based procedure was authorized in the United States in 2000 and is available for women up to ten weeks’ gestation.
The relaxation of restrictions defined by the FDA now aims to facilitate the access of poorer pregnant women, who have mobility difficulties or who prefer to undergo the procedure in a more reserved way, at home. The measure, however, does not exclude the obligation to carry out prior consultations with health professionals, who are responsible for prescribing the medication and sending them by mail.
Practice provides for the use of two remedies. The first, mifepristone, a progesterone blocker, is restricted by US regulatory agencies and can only be provided by properly certified clinics or hospitals on prescription.
In addition, at the time of delivery, the patient must sign a form assuming that the professional has adequately informed her about the medication — this is a process that, since 2000, could only be done in person.
The second drug is misoprostol, an inducer of contractions, which must be taken within 48 hours of the first, and has been available for some time with a prescription at pharmacies.
In practice, the relaxation officialized on Thursday was already in effect. Earlier this year, following Joe Biden’s inauguration as president, the FDA had suspended the decision for women to have to attend clinics and hospitals in the midst of the pandemic, on the grounds of health safety.
The measure had been adopted because of Covid-19 last year, but at the time the American Executive, under the Republican Donald Trump, challenged the flexibility in the Supreme Court and managed to reverse the decision.
“The ultimate move should be a tremendous relief to countless patients,” said Georgeanne Usova, an adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union. The NGO, together with entities such as the American Medical Association, considered the obligation to attend unnecessary.
Anti-abortion groups, meanwhile, said the FDA policy puts women at risk. Agency data released by Reuters indicate that from September 2000 to December 2018, 3.7 million women took these abortive drugs, and 24 died from complications caused by the procedure.
The truth is that, in practice, many Americans will continue to struggle to qualify for this flexibility. This is because, in the US, some regional laws have greater weight compared to federal provisions.
Nineteen states, mainly in the American South and Midwest, already prohibit the delivery of abortive drugs after consultations made only online. Others, amid the conservative wave that threatens abortion rights in the country, must pass legislation that further restricts access to the pills.
According to the American newspaper The New York Times, six states have banned the sending of pills by mail, seven have passed laws that require pills to be obtained in person, and another four have adopted laws that reduce the maximum period of ten weeks to adhere to the procedure.
There is, however, no impediment for women residing in these more conservative states to go to others where there are no restrictions on receiving medication.
According to data released last month by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), 42% of all abortions in the US in 2019 occurred with medication. When it comes to procedures performed involving fetuses with less than nine weeks, the mode was adopted by 54% of women. The survey did not consider data from California, Maryland and New Hampshire.
This Thursday’s FDA decision was seen as a small victory for abortion rights groups amid a string of recent defeats, including on the Supreme Court. In a court debate, which now has a majority of Conservative judges, four of the six magistrates aligned with that trend have already indicated that they must vote in favor of the validity of a Mississippi law barring the procedure after 15 weeks of gestation.
In Texas, another even more restrictive rule went into effect, preventing abortions from six weeks’ gestation — a time when many women haven’t even discovered they’re pregnant. Texas law, which is also the subject of lawsuits, makes no exceptions for rape.
Earlier Thursday, the Supreme Court sent the case to a federal appeals court, in a defeat for abortion rights activists.
.
