‘It’s taken longer than I thought’: A former FDA commissioner on the loosened restrictions on abortion pills
When the Food and Drug Administration lifted some — but not all — of its restrictions on an abortion pill this week, it raised questions about why these rules were there in the first place. Mifepristone, the drug in question, has been used by over 3.7 million Americans to end early pregnancies since its approval in 2000, is more than 97% effective, tends to have only mild side effects such as cramping, with severe ones occurring in fewer than 0.5% of patients. So why was it on a list of prescription drugs requiring extra precautions and red tape, alongside opioid painkillers?
Those restrictions have been loosening, albeit slowly. During the pandemic, the FDA stopped requiring that mifepristone be prescribed in-person, a change that was subsequently made permanent. But before this week, patients in states where abortion is legal could only get prescriptions from certified providers — a family doctor’s office wouldn’t do — and the order could only be filled by that provider, or by one of two mail-order pharmacies. On Tuesday, the FDA changed the rules again, widening the number of pharmacies that could dispense the drug to include both big chains like CVS and Walgreens, as well as small independent businesses, on the condition that they apply for certification.
