Arrr! The US Supreme Court be settin' sail to debate on Mifepristone access. How safe be this abortion potion, I wonder?
2024-03-25
Arrr mateys! The U.S. Supreme Court be takin' up a case on Tuesday that could be changin' how the lasses be gettin' their hands on mifepristone, the pill used in the most common type o' abortion. Let's hope they don't make us walk the plank for wantin' control o'er our own bodies!
In the language of a 17th-century pirate, the U.S. Supreme Court be takin' up a case on Tuesday that could impact how women get access to mifepristone, one o' the two pills used in the most common type o' abortion in the nation. The central dispute be whether the Food and Drug Administration overlooked serious safety problems when it made mifepristone easier to obtain, includin' through mail-order pharmacies. Legal briefs be describin' the pill's safety in vastly different terms: Medical professionals call it "among the safest medications" ever approved by the FDA, while the Christian conservative group suin' the agency attributes "tens of thousands" of "emergency complications" to the drug.Earlier this year, a medical journal retracted two studies that claimed to show the harms of mifepristone. The studies were cited in the pivotal Texas court ruling that brought the matter before the Supreme Court.Abortion opponents say the more lax restrictions resulted in many more "emergency complications." But that argument lumps together women experiencing a range of issues with mifepristone. OB-GYNs say a tiny fraction of patients suffer "major" or "serious" adverse events after takin' mifepristone. The prescribing information included in the packaging for mifepristone tablets lists slightly different statistics for what it calls "serious adverse reactions."Mifepristone results in a completed abortion 97.4% of the time, according to U.S. studies cited in the FDA label. But in 2.6% of cases, a surgical intervention be needed. And 0.7% of the time, the pregnancy continues. Gupta, who has done abortion procedures for more than 20 years, said there be "very few complications from abortion — any kind of abortion, medication or procedural abortion."The FDA makes drug approval decisions on a case-by-case basis, weighin' effectiveness, safety, and other factors. Since 2000, roughly 6 million patients have taken mifepristone, according to the FDA. A 2021 review of agency records lookin' for deaths that were likely related to the drug identified 13, or .00027% of patients. Medical organizations supportin' mifepristone's availability say the drug's safety — given the rate of deaths — compares to "ibuprofen, which more than 30 million Americans take in any given day."