Over 20 years since the FDA approved the commonly used abortion pill mifepristone, its safety is being put into question before the Supreme Court — and the verdict could result in a nationwide end to abortion care as we know it.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 63% of abortions were done through pills like mifepristone and misoprostol in 2023. These two pills, often used together, can terminate an early pregnancy without surgery. Less than 1% of women have gone to the hospital due to adverse effects from mifepristone, and the FDA saw fit to expand access to the pill in 2016 and 2021. However, the anti-abortion group Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM) argues that the use of mifepristone harms healthcare providers, and as a result, the FDA was wrong to expand access.
