Abortion rights advocates protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court. If the Texas court's decision is allowed to stand, it will be a devastating loss for people in the United States. CREDIT: Jon Garr for Fòs Feminista.
The brazen ruling marks the first time a U.S. court has taken a drug off the market following FDA approval.
New York, NY – Today, a Trump-appointed judge in Texas ordered the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to pull a pill used in a safe and effective two-part medication abortion regimen off the market across the country. The medication at the center of this case, mifepristone, is included in the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines and was approved by the FDA over two decades ago as a safe medication for those seeking to end a pregnancy. A recent report by the Guttmacher Institute revealed that self-managed abortion (SMA) with medication via a two-pill regimen consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol already accounts for over half (54%) of abortions in the U.S.
This marks the first time a U.S. court has ever taken a drug off the market once the FDA approved it, and the latest step backward for the U.S. as its leaders continue to restrict safe abortion access. If this decision is allowed to stand, it will be a devastating loss for people in the U.S., one that sends a dangerous and outrageously inaccurate message to the rest of the world. As Fòs Feminista’s Nigerian partner Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN) said: “The most effective health products cannot save lives or improve health if they do not reach the people who want and need them.”
Medication abortion has been available in pharmacies worldwide for decades. Linea de Aborto Chiapas, a Fòs Feminista partner based in Mexico who supports women and girls in accessing safe abortion care through accompaniment, said, “We have been working with this abortion medication for 12 years. Years ago, only one pharmacy used to sell the pills, but we began to insist in several pharmacies and so the demand increased. Now it’s easy to get them and there is not much stigma about it.”
On the same day, a federal judge in Washington ordered the FDA to maintain access to mifepristone under current regulations, contradicting the Texas ruling. The clashing rulings further instill confusion, chaos, and uncertainty over the future of mifepristone in the United States.
In response to today’s ruling in Texas, Giselle Carino, chief executive officer of Fòs Feminista, released the following statement:
“Today feminist activists everywhere join people in the United States in rejecting this decision, as it will not help in reducing maternal mortality and will only make safe options for abortion care more limited. Our resolve is to ensure that everybody everywhere receives the safe, effective, non-judgmental care they deserve, accessing the best knowledge and products available.
“This decision sends a dangerous and entirely inaccurate message to the rest of the world, which looks to the U.S. to be a leader on this issue. Let us be clear: Mifepristone is a safe and effective way to end a pregnancy. Fòs Feminista’s partners rely on this medication to serve women, girls, and gender-diverse people worldwide each and every day. Health experts from the U.S. FDA to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have all unanimously endorsed the safety of mifepristone. A decision made by one anti-abortion judge in Texas does not change this reality nor does it make self-managed medication abortion illegal.
“The United States is growing further out of step with its own people, who in the 2022 midterm elections overwhelmingly voted in five states to protect abortion rights, and with the rest of the world, as other countries increasingly liberate abortion worldwide. As a result, all eyes are on the U.S. government as it fails to protect its people—particularly the most marginalized women, girls, and gender-diverse people. While we applaud our allies in the U.S. Congress willing to speak out on this issue, we now must demand they put meaning to those words by taking action.
“Fòs Feminista will never be complicit in denying people in the United States their autonomy and dignity, or their access to scientific progress.
“We will continue to stand alongside our partners in solidarity, and we commit again to working with reproductive justice organizations led by those most impacted. We will continue to rely on medication abortion —whether through use of the mifepristone—misoprostol combo or the misoprostol-only regimen – as the safe and effective methods that the scientific community and evidence have deemed it to be.”
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Fòs Feminista is an international feminist alliance centered around sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice for women, girls, and gender-diverse people. Together with more than 220 local organizations across the globe, we engage in healthcare, education, and advocacy to advance our agenda. This includes providing sexual and reproductive health services and implementing community-based strategies that make sexual and reproductive healthcare more accessible to women, girls, and others at the margins. We also engage young people with comprehensive sexuality education and provide care to survivors of gender-based violence. We stand alongside our partners in the streets, in the courts, and in other advocacy spaces as an unapologetically feminist voice, resisting injustice and advocating for gender equality and reproductive rights locally and globally.
