Abortion pill by mail now allowed in US permanently, FDA rules

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday removed a key restriction on the abortion pill, allowing it to be sent to people’s homes instead of requiring patients pick it up at the doctor’s office.

The decision comes as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the fate of legal abortion. The conservative justices signaled in arguments earlier this month that they were open to rolling back current protections established under Roe v. Wade. Overturning Roe would leave it up to states to regulate abortion. A dozen have “trigger laws” that would immediately ban the procedure. Many also further regulate the pill — 19 require a clinician to be present when a woman takes it, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group.

The FDA’S change will mean women don’t have to travel to a clinic to get the drug. The agency is requiring that pharmacies that dispense the pill be certified. Almost 90% of American women currently live in counties without a clinic. Many who get abortions are low-income and can’t afford to travel or take time off work.

The FDA said it made the change to “reduce burden on patient access and the health care delivery system” and because the benefits of the drug outweighed the risks.

“With states banning abortion at earlier and earlier points in pregnancy, it is all the more essential that the FDA remove medically unnecessary restrictions that reduce where and how patients can safely fill their mifepristone prescription — and today’s decision is critical progress, though far from complete,” said Julia Kaye, a staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, in an emailed statement. Georgeanne Usova, senior legislative counsel at the ACLU, added that the FDA “fell short” in repealing all the medically unnecessary restrictions.

The regulations previously required patients to go to a doctor’s office to get the pill — they couldn’t get it sent to them in the mail or pick it up at a pharmacy.

U.S. regulators first approved the drug in 2000 and immediately imposed restrictions that are generally reserved for drugs that carry serious risks.