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ICYMI
ICYMI: Mifepristone Emerges as a Defining Issue Ahead of Critical Midterm Elections
ICYMI: Mifepristone Emerges as a Defining Issue Ahead of Critical Midterm Elections
New reporting from the Associated Press highlights how back-and-forth court rulings impacting access to mifepristone are propelling abortion back into the center of the political conversation ahead of this year’s critical midterm elections.
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with anti-abortion extremists in Louisiana v. FDA and reinstated medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone nationwide—even in states where abortion is protected. This is the largest threat to abortion access since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Although the Supreme Court temporarily restored telehealth, mail, and pharmacy access to mifepristone through an administrative stay this week, the Court could still allow the Fifth Circuit’s ruling to fully go into effect. The case underscores the stakes of the midterm elections: Without federal protections for abortion access, patients and providers will continue to be forced to navigate a chaotic, volatile legal landscape shaped by anti-abortion judges and politicians.
As Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju told AP, “The only way for us to really stop this back and forth is to have abortion access be legal in all 50 states. The only way we do that is through federal legislation, which makes the midterm elections even more urgent.”
Louisiana’s case is built on disinformation and junk science, and attempts to prioritize an anti-abortion agenda over decades of science. Mifepristone has been used by over 7.5 million people since its FDA approval in 2000, and it has a track record of safety and efficacy that is backed by countless experts. In other words, this case has nothing to do with science or safety and everything to do with politics. And it isn’t just about one medication: It’s about whether Trump and his allies can successfully impose their unpopular nationwide abortion ban while dodging accountability.
Litigation is still ongoing for Louisiana v. FDA, but this case offers a peek into the broader strategy of dismantling abortion access entirely. Whether abortion access is restored and protected—or further eroded—rests on the outcome of midterm elections.
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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.