On Wednesday, August 16, in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. US Food and Drug Administration the 5thUS Circuit Court of Appeals found that the FDA must restore critical safeguards for chemical abortion drugs. The appeals court restored strict limits on the drug meant to protect women’s health that was removed by the Biden administration. The appellate court’s ruling also prohibits abortion businesses from sending chemical abortion drugs through the mail, which the FDA had been allowing since 201 in direct violation of federal law. If upheld by the Supreme Court, this ruling will greatly decrease the mail-order abortion business.
In addition, in 2016, the FDA extended the gestational age of the baby for which the chemical abortion drug may be taken from 7 to 10 weeks, decreased the number of doctor’s office visits required from 3 down to 1, allowed non-doctors to prescribe the drug, and eliminated the requirement that adverse, non-fatal reactions be reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System. The 5th Circuit held that these actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act and upheld the district court’s decision to reinstate all the original safeguards.
Read more about the court’s decision here: