NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – A federal court in New Orleans has come back with its decision on the controversial abortion pill.
The ruling comes after a federal judge in Texas suspended the FDA’s approval of mifepristone last week, but Wednesday night, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that mifepristone, initially approved by the FDA in 2000, can still be used but with restrictions, which were loosened in 2016.
“Which require in-person visits for that woman, getting that pill, also for ultrasounds, and when the FDA sweepingly decided to remove any in-person requirement, that was dangerous for women,” Sarah Zagorski, the communications manager with Louisiana Right to Life, said.
Zagorski called the latest ruling a win, but Petrice Sams-Abiodun, the vice president for strategic partnerships with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said the ruling is an effort to cut down abortion access nationwide.
“This ruling, we believe, could have far reaching consequences for patients who are trying to access other FDA-approved drugs or medications,” Sams-Abiodun said.
Restrictions now imposed on mifepristone also include rolling back the duration of when the drug can be used, from ten weeks of pregnancy to seven weeks of pregnancy, and dispensing the drug by mail.
“We kind of saw this decision from the FDA back when they first announced they were going to allow this pill to be prescribed without in-person consultation that it would be so dangerous that there would be an increase in emergency visits, those sorts of things,” Zagorski said.
According to the FDA, as of June 2022, there were 28 reports of deaths in patients associated with mifepristone since the product was approved in 2000.
Abortion rights advocates argue it’s dangerous to limit the drug.
“We’re concerned that doctors won’t be able to provide quality care to patients, miscarrying patients because of these laws, because of these restrictions,” Sams-Abiodun.
Currently, it is illegal for someone to take mifepristone in the state of Louisiana.
The Department of Justice plans to challenge this ruling at the Supreme Court.
