Washington, Apr 25 (EFE).- Organizations that defend abortion in the United States warned this Tuesday of a possible attack on another type of abortion pills, after access to mifepristone was recently threatened.
Both mifepristone and misoprostol are abortion pills widely used in the US to end a pregnancy. The country’s Supreme Court decided last Friday to maintain access to the abortion pill mifepristone, temporarily suspending restrictions that an appeals court had ordered last week.
After efforts to restrict its use, now organizations warn that misoprostol is in the crosshairs of opponents of abortion in the country.
Mini Timmaraju, president of the NARAL Pro-Choice America organization, explained to EFE that, after “going after mifepristone without success,” extremists will try to attack misoprostol: “We have to be concerned about that,” she added.
For her part, the president of Planned Parenthood, Alexis McGill Johnson, also warned that “once they start with a medication and declare that they have the right to remove it, it means that they can come for anything.”
“That is what we have to worry about,” agreed Mcgill, who described as “insanity” the fact that “there are judges who believe they understand better than the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) whether a medicine is safe and effective or not”.
In turn, Mcgill celebrated that the position of the Supreme Court has maintained access to mifepristone for “the nearest future”, while Timmaraju defined it as “temporary relief” and recalled that the case is still ongoing.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that supports abortion rights, 54% of pregnancy terminations in the United States in 2022 were with abortion pills like mifepristone or misoprostol.
Both activists participated in an event at Howard University in Washington in favor of women’s reproductive freedom, which was also attended by US Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Democrat challenged “extremists calling themselves leaders” to open her medicine cabinet “from the privacy” of her home to see if they would be comfortable with it.
“There is a national agenda at stake by these alleged extremist leaders,” Harris described, lamenting that “they try to say that a lawyer and politician are in a better position than a doctor to determine what is safe and effective.”
In his opinion, although the Supreme Court intervened to allow access to abortion drugs to continue for now, it is a “temporary” decision, he said. “If they decide to uphold the Texas decision, it will be a national ban on abortion,” he added.
Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, nominated by former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), ordered on April 8 to withdraw the health authorization for the abortion pill throughout the country, a decision that is on hold while an appeals court decide on its legality.
Brittany House, a Howard University alumnus, as the vice president, joined the event with her story of how she got through using misoprostol, which allowed her to terminate her pregnancy.
“I felt comfortable and was able to go through the process on my own terms. All patients should have access to the safest option for them,” claimed House, noting that she did not have to undergo an “unnecessary ultrasound” or “drive for hours”, as is now the case with some women who want to abort.
