What You Need to Know About the Latest Attack on Abortion Care: The Mifepristone Abortion Pill

In yet another attack on abortion care, a federal judge in Texas ruled in favor of anti-abortion organizations suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The lawsuit challenges the FDA’s approval of mifepristone — also known as mife, one of two medications used in medication abortions. The court’s ruling means that mife could become unavailable to people who need abortions. Although this decision came from a federal court in Texas, it doesn't just apply to patients in Texas — it could apply to people in every state in the nation. Let's be clear, this case is not about safety. It is about controlling the medical decisions of women, trans people, and nonbinary people. 

More recently, two Trump-nominated judges of a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel largely denied the Biden administration’s request to issue a stay of the Texas court ruling, meaning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone is still in grave jeopardy. However, the courts’ orders have not yet taken effect, leaving mifepristone access intact for now. As of April 13, 2023, the Department of Justice announced that they plan to seek emergency relief to block the lower courts’ rulings in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration et al on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone. 

While providers can still prescribe mifepristone, this latest federal court ruling could cut countless patients off from access — and it keeps the threat of a nationwide ban alive. Mife has been approved by the FDA for more than 20 years, and has been used by more than 5 million people in the U.S. to safely end their early pregnancies. This lawsuit is a baseless, political attack on our ability to control our own bodies and lives.  

If the ruling stands, it will affect access to mifepristone across the country — but it will not end medication abortions. In states where abortion is legal, including New York State, medication abortions will remain a safe and effective way to end an early pregnancy.