The Supreme Court won’t make its decision until the summer, and mainstream commentators are skeptical that they will overturn the Federal Drug Administration ruling that approved the pill. However, the risk of restrictions being placed on abortion pill access is high, and far-right “pro-life” groups will continue their campaign against a woman’s right to choose.
Mifepristone, a two-drug regimen that was approved by the FDA in 2000, accounts for nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States. This statistic has risen in recent years, especially since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. Prior to 2016, it was required to have an in-person doctor’s visit in order to be prescribed the drug, and the pill needed to be administered within the first seven weeks of pregnancy. In 2016, the FDA extended that to 10 weeks of pregnancy, and required fewer trips to the doctor. Finally, in the beginning of 2023, the FDA removed the in-person requirement for access to the drug.
The case against the FDA approved drug
Mifepristone is currently being targeted by a group called Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. That is a group that aims to “protect the vulnerable at the beginning and end of life,” according to their website. The case against Mifepristone was brought to a U.S. federal judge in Northern Texas last year, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who revoked the FDA approval of the drug. This unprecedented ruling that overturned an FDA approved drug could dramatically affect all FDA approved drugs in the future. The U.S. Department of Justice immediately appealed Kacsmaryk’s ruling, and the case eventually reached the Supreme Court. While we await their decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the drug can remain on the market but the restrictions will revert to pre-2016.
The restrictions placed back on the drug are detrimental to pregnant people that need abortions. Not only do they prevent patients from using telemedicine to obtain a prescription, but they also prevent them from receiving the drug by mail. Mifepristone is not only used for abortions. It’s also used to induce labor, manage miscarriages, and treat postpartum hemorrhage. According to the World Health Organization, Mifepristone, and a similar drug, Misoprostol, actually decrease the incidence of unsafe abortions. The fight against Mifepristone is a fight against women and birthing people. Drugs like these are essential for gynecological health.
The need for a mass reproductive rights movement
This is why we need a large, visible abortion rights movement. Although the drug may stay on the market, people in states with abortion bans will have a much harder time accessing it. According to the ANSIRH (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health), “One in three people discover pregnancy at six weeks’ gestation or later, and about one in five discover pregnancy past seven weeks. People of color, people living with food insecurity, people with unplanned pregnancies, and those who rely on clinic-based testing to confirm a pregnancy are more likely to discover pregnancy past seven weeks’ gestation.”
In the past two decades, 61 people have been charged with alleged self-managed abortions or with helping someone else with their abortion. Many of these people were living in poverty. These numbers will only grow higher with further restrictions on abortion access.
There is a critical need for a mass, independent movement around abortion rights in the United States. The liberal focus of winning “at the ballot” is a losing strategy promoted by liberal NGOs. This fight calls for a feminist movement led by the working class, who are the ones truly affected by these bans. Along with this is the fact that, in the states that are abortion “safe,” many people don’t think that these cases will immediately affect them. However, when a movement is brought to the streets, it not only makes itself visible, but helps to unite all sections of society into a powerful movement.
We can learn much from struggles in Latin America, where activists have built a successful reproductive rights movement. Last September, Mexico decriminalized abortion at the federal level. This came from mass street protests that applied pressure to the government and built wide-spread awareness.
“The mass mobilizations in Latin America also demonstrate the class nature of the movement, in which feminist demands have unified working people across sectors of society” (“Mexico Decriminalizes Abortion,” Workers’ Voice, Oct. 29, 2023). In Argentina, partial legalization of abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy was also won through huge mobilizations. In both these instances, activists understand that this is just the beginning – the fight will not be over until the entire working class is free of all oppressive forces.
We need to build a movement in the United States that not only prioritizes womens’ rights but the rights of queer, non-binary, and trans people. We need a movement that isn’t led by liberal nonprofits but prioritizes the needs of the entire working class. Free, safe, and legal abortions now!
>> The article above was written by Grace Mitchell, and is reprinted from Workers' Voice.
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