The Supreme Court protects Mifepristone in an unanimous decision

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-  The Supreme Court of the United States rejected a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to regulating mifepristone on Thursday. The ruling allows the pill to continue to be mailed to patients without an in-person doctor’s visit.

The drug can be used in the first 70 days of gestation and is not only used in abortions but also commonly used as a treatment for non-viable pregnancies. The drug is prescribed by a provider to a patient, and telehealth has become a frequent way to gain access to it.

10% of pregnancies in the U.S. end in miscarriage and doctors say mifepristone is a valuable medication for women who have experienced a fetal loss. But how is a drug like this legal in a state where abortions are illegal?

Chair of the Kentucky chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Coy A. Flowers, M.D., says “This medication can be life-saving for those women to complete the miscarriage that they are currently having and also to be able to effectively treat women who are having hemorrhage from those situations and other life-threatening situations so, having this ruling today is life saving and vital for even the women of kentucky where abortion is illegal.”

There are approximately 700,000 to 1 million abortions in the U.S. every year, and a majority of those are treated with medications, like mifepristone, instead of surgeries.