U.S. health officials on Thursday (December 16) eased access to abortion pills, allowing them to no longer have to be dispensed in person to women by a health professional, a decision that comes at a time when the right to abortion is strongly questioned in conservative states.
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The measure perpetuates a temporary change that was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, and which allows tablets used for medical abortions can be sent by mail, after prescription by a doctor. Although in many conservative states, where restrictive telemedicine laws are in place, mailing will still not be able to take place, this decision should make it possible to expand access to these tablets, especially in certain areas. rural areas.
This decision was announced by the civil rights organization ACLU, which had filed a lawsuit and made public a letter signed by the director of the department in charge of the evaluation of drugs within the United States Agency. drugs (FDA).
This is
"a huge step forward that will allow many patients to have access to this safe drug
,
"
responded an ACLU official in a statement.
"The Biden administration authorizes unsafe abortions, to do yourself, at home
,
"
on the contrary denounced the Charlotte Lozier Institute, which campaigns against abortion.
Safe medicine
Medicated abortions are approved by the FDA for up to 10 weeks in the United States.
They require the taking of two drugs: first of mifepristone, which blocks the development of the pregnancy, then the next day of misoprostol, which triggers the abortion.
However, mifepristone has been framed since its authorization in 2000 by rules that many militant associations denounce as political.
Authorities have decided to
"remove the requirement that mifepristone be dispensed only in certain medical settings, specifically clinics, doctor's offices and hospitals,"
the FDA official wrote in her letter on Thursday.
Read also Anti-abortion law in Texas: understand everything about the ongoing legal battle
In April, the FDA had already authorized the time of the pandemic to send the drug by mail, in order to avoid travel that could expose women to the virus. This measure, now permanent, has
"considerably extended access to this essential drug"
, according to the ACLU. Fewer than 900,000 abortions are performed each year in the United States, 40% of which were medicinal in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which campaigns for access to abortion. The use of this technique is increasing sharply (in 2001 it was used for only 5% of abortions). Abortions using mifepristone and misoprostol are safe and complications very rare, experts say.
The right to abortion in the United States has been protected since 1973 by a decision of the Supreme Court.
But the new conservative majority within the latter could soon turn back.
