On Thursday, NBC News reported that a group of Democrats on the House Oversight Committee announced a resolution to push the Food and Drug Administration to lift in-person requirements for women recieving a medication abortion.
The resolution is reportedly backed by Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). The resolution, obtained by NBC News, argues that in-person dispension of mifepristone, the first drug taken in a medical abortion, limits access to abortion. It argues that lifting this requirement would improve access without weakening the drug’s safety profile.
In a chemical abortion, a woman takes two drugs to carry out the termination of the pregnancy. The first drug, mifepristone, blocks progesterone to allow the pregnancy to grow. The second drug, misoprostol, empties the woman’s uterus.
As of right now, the FDA requires mifepristone to be distributed in-person rather than picked up at a pharmacy or obtained through the mail. This requirement was lifted temporarily during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. In April and May, news circulated that the Biden administration was looking into lifting the restrictions surrounding at-home medical abortions permanently.
Abortion access issues at the federal and state level have arisen tenfold in past months. With the upcoming Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court case on the horizon, abortion lawsuits and the like pop up continuously. States like Montana and Texas have passed legislation restricting abortion. Planned Parenthood tried to sue Indiana’s abortion restrictions and it backfired. President Biden stripped the longstanding Hyde Amendment from the 2022 budget. Now, the movement is underway to allow women to obtain drugs to terminate pregnancies on their own.
"It's time that we trust the science and ensure access to safe, legal abortion, particularly for communities where abortion care has been historically pushed out of reach," Maloney said to NBC News. “I plan to continue this fight until everyone can freely exercise their right to access abortion – including medication abortion.”