BREAKING: FDA Lifts Restrictions on Early Abortion Medication for Duration of COVID-19 Pandemic
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, April 13, 2021
CONTACT: Anna Zuccaro | anna@unbendablemedia.com
BREAKING: FDA Lifts Restrictions on Early Abortion Medication for Duration of COVID-19 Pandemic
National Women’s Group UltraViolet responds to FDA’s lifting restrictions for abortion medication
Last night, The United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock informed the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine that the agency will “exercise enforcement discretion” for the abortion medication like mifepristone, which can end pregnancy up to 10 weeks of gestation, through the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic
In response to the breaking news, Sonja Spoo, Director of Reproductive Rights Campaigns at UltraViolet, a leading national women’s advocacy organization, issued the following statement:
“The FDA’s decision to lift telemedicine restrictions for prescriptions like mifepristone is hugely significant for anyone who needs an early abortion, especially during a pandemic. Forcing people to travel unnecessarily and risk getting infected with COVID-19 in order to get medication or any necessary form of healthcare is unsafe and unconscionable.
“This decision will be especially helpful to people who live in rural areas where access to care is already difficult and to BIPOC women, people and families working to make ends meet, who have been harmed most by the pandemic and draconian abortion restrictions across the nation before the pandemic. No one should face restrictive barriers based on who they are, where they are from, or how much money they earn.
“While this decision is worthy of acknowledgement and a major step toward abortion justice, we hope it is a sign that the FDA will further review the clear science and lift restrictions on telemedicine abortion access permanently after the pandemic. We also hope that states that currently restrict telemedicine abortion access work swiftly to rollback these restrictions.
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