Amna: With abortion banned or
severely restricted in U.S.
18 states, abortion pills have
now become the new battle ground
for the anti-abortion movement.
In a story co-produced with the
pbs newshour, Kaiser health news
correspondent Sarah Varney
reports on a new lawsuit brought
by a conservative Christian
anti-abortion group that could
end access to the medication
nationwide.
Sarah: At whole woman's house in
Virginia, a clinic manager --
health in Virginia, a clinic
manager is struggling to find
appointments for women coming
for abortion care in nearby
states.
>> We are in this half circle
around the east coast of states
including West Virginia,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia,
South Carolina, and many others
that have either completely
banned abortion access or very
much restricted it.
Sarah: Many come here for
medication abortion which
involves taking two pills.
The first is method for stone --
the second induces a miss -- the
first is mifepristone which
blocks the hormone,
progesterone, and halts the
pregnancy.
The second is misoprostol which
induces a miscarriage.
>> Medication abortion is very
common.
I would say about every day that
we see patients, we see about 10
to 15 patients who have a
medication, abortion medication
.
Sarah: Abortion can be taken up
to 10 weeks in to a pregnancy.
About 5 million women in the
U.S. And millions more across
the world have safely used the
drugs.
They now account for more than
half of all abortions in this
country and are also used by
obgyns to manage early
miscarriages.
Misoprostol was approved by the
food and drug administration in
1988 to treat gastric ulcers,
but mifepristone which was
approved in 2000 to end early
pregnancy is now being targeted
by anti-abortion advocates.
A lawsuit underway in this
federal courthouse in Amarillo,
Texas could force the fda to
remove mifepristone from the
market entirely.
That would affect every state
across the country, including
those where abortion remains
legal.
The lawsuit was filed by an
anti-abortion group represented
by Denise Harle of the Christian
legal advocacy group, alliance
defending freedom.
Harle claims the fda's safety
review of mifepristone was
flawed.
>> The fda has one job, which is
just to protect Americans from
dangerous drugs.
It's caused great harm to women
and girls.
It's extremely dangerous.
And we're asking the court to
remove that chemical drug
regimen until and unless the fda
actually goes through the proper
testing that it's required to
do.
Sarah: Leading medical
12 organizations, including the
American medical association and
the American college of
obstetricians and gynecologists,
say these claims are untrue.
Decades of research show the
risk of major complications from
taking abortion pills is less
than 0.4%.
They are safer than commonly
used drugs like tylenol or
Viagra.
>> -- Sarah: At whole woman's
health, CEO Amy Hagstrom Miller
says medication abortion gives
women more control over their
health care.
>> When you have medication
abortion, part of the process
happens at home.
And a lot of people like that.
They like they think it's less
invasive.
It involves cramping and
bleeding and passing of the
pregnancy, very similar to a
miscarriage.
And people can be at home with
their loved ones and can sort of
schedule the passing of the
pregnancy around their work
schedule or their childcare
schedule.
Sarah: But here in Texas, the
lawsuit wants to put a stop to
that.
The alliance defending freedom
makes a number of claims,
including that the fda used the
wrong process to approve the
drug.
>> The fda also pushed the drugs
through a certain special
provision that's supposed to be
only for treating illnesses and
only for life saving drugs.
The regulatory process was not
followed.
Sarah: In fact, mifepristone's
approval was investigated in
2008 by the government
accountability office which
found that the process was
consistent with fda regulations.
>> It's hard to think of a drug
that's been under more scrutiny
than mifepristone.
Sarah: I. Glenn Cohen, a Harvard
law school professor, is one of
19 fda scholars who filed an
amicus brief in support of the
agency.
>> We don't think there's a
problem here statutorily or
medically.
It'd be very dangerous to allow
a single judge sitting in
Amarillo to essentially order a
drug that's used by millions
across the world and many women
in America off the market.
The Sarah: Alliance defending
freedom was almost guaranteed --
Sarah: The alliance defending
freedom was almost guaranteed to
draw a judge in the conservative
movement.
>> It's part of a trend of
conservative legal movement
actors trying to get before the
judge.
Sarah: Elizabeth is a law
professor at the university of
Texas at Austin.
>> He made statements in
opposition to reproductive
rights linking up
reproduction to the feminist
movement and making anti
feminist statements.
Sarah: So why now?
Why is the conservative
Christian legal movement
striking now with these cases?
>> Prior to Dobbs, the right to
abortion would have stood in the
way of this lawsuit.
But now, the conservative legal
movement feels empowered to go
after medication abortion, but
then extend their aims beyond
abortion to contraception, to
prep medication to prevent HIV
.
Sarah: Federal judges in Texas
have ruled that a religious
objector can block a federal
program from providing birth
control to teens, and emergency
room doctors must equally weigh
the life of a pregnant woman and
her fetus.
>> It's all part and parcel of a
claim to restrict reproductive
health care consistent with
conservative religious beliefs.
Sarah: Denise Harle of the
alliance defending freedom said
the fda needs to study whether
mifepristone can be safely
administered, but she says no
scientific data would be enough.
But it's fair to say, given your
the beliefs of your
organization, that you would you
would not want to see this drug
back on the market.
>> Oh, I would not want to see
this drug back on the market, I
think.
I think chemical abortion does
great harms to women and their
unborn children.
But we certainly shouldn't be
putting their health in danger
no matter what.
And that's what this lawsuit is
really about.
Sarah: Back in Alexandria,
Virginia, whole woman's health
CEO Hagstrom Miller is bracing
for a ruling that takes
mifepristone off the market.
>> I think people know that what
happens in Texas doesn't stay in
Texas.
Some of the most Progressive
states in the country will face
restrictions if this lawsuit is
successful.
Sarah: If that's the case, her
clinics and obgyns across the
country will be forced to use
only misoprostol for miscarriage
and early abortion care.
While taking the two pills
together is 99.6% effective in
terminating early pregnancy,
misoprostol alone, although
still extremely safe, is about
80% effective.
>> There's more cramping,
there's more bleeding, there's
nausea, there's diarrhea.
And that matters, right?
That matters to pregnant people.
People should have access to the
highest level of medical care
and should be able to have the
best research and the best
science.
Sarah: Clinic manager shaelin
nauta says her biggest concern
is that women will think they
have no options.
>> This will absolutely have an
impact on the misinformation and
on what people believe to be
true so finding out that that is
banned could really turn a lot
of people away from not only
having a medication abortion,
but abortion care in general.
Sarah: A decision in the case
could come as soon as this
Friday.
For the pbs news hour and Kaiser
health news, I'm Sarah Varney in