There’s a new war on drugs looming. But it won’t involve addictive narcotics or S.W.A.T. teams banging down doors. Instead, the approaching battle will be over medication that is safer than Tylenol and approved by the Food and Drug Administration: Abortion drugs. Medication abortion is the most common method of abortion in the country, accounting for about 60% of all abortions in the U.S. Abortion drugs were approved by the FDA in 2000, and are safe, effective and widely prescribed for miscarriage and abortion care before the 10-week mark.
If Roe v. Wade falls in the coming weeks, rolling back the constitutional right to abortion care, about half of the states will immediately ban or severely restrict abortion ― leaving a small patchwork of blue states to cover care for the rest of Americans. The country is staring down a historic moment that will irrevocably change the political and cultural face of the U.S. But medication abortion can ensure we don’t go back to the pre-Roe days of back-alley abortions and desperate women dying on tables in dingy motel rooms. Many people don’t know that abortions can now, in many cases, be done from the comfort of their home. And anti-choice lawmakers and other abortion opponents are banking on you not knowing about medication abortion.
Many have already started explicitly attacking access to abortion pills: In the first three months of 2022 alone, more than 100 measures attempting to restrict medication abortion were introduced in red states across the country ― in addition to dozens of other extreme abortion restrictions that have gone into effect this year.
“It’s critical to remember that medication abortion is incredibly safe, incredibly effective and in high demand ― and the states hostile to abortion rights know this,” said Elisabeth Smith, the director of state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “That’s why they are trying to increase stigma around medication abortion… and create additional liability for those trying to access the pills.” With or without Roe, anti-choice lawmakers know the next chapter in abortion care will center on medication abortion. And they’re starting to quietly wage a war, hoping to cut off access to a safe and effective abortion method before most Americans even know about it.