FDA loosens abortion pill regulations, will permanently allow women to get it by mail

As the Supreme Court is still deciding the fate ofRoe v. Wade, the FDA has turned a page in the culture war surrounding abortion.

The FDA has reversed a previous rule and will now permanently allow women to get mifepristone by mail, according to the New York Times. The case regarding the future of mifepristone (otherwise known as the abortion pill) in America was triggered by the ACLU challenging current rules regarding how and where a woman may receive a medication-induced abortion.

The Biden administration loosened FDA restrictions on mifepristone earlier this year, reversing a Trump-era policy using the COVID-19 as justification for the FDA's decision.

The new policy allows mifepristone to be prescribed by a telemedicine appointment and to be delivered by mail. The FDA made this decision in hopes that allowing patients to receive abortion medication by mail would lower the risk of spreading coronavirus, Forbes reported.

The ACLU's lawsuit argues that the FDA's current Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy places "burdensome restrictions" on medication abortion because "the patient must be handed the medication at a clinic, medical office, or hospital from a health care provider who has pre-registered with the drug manufacturer and arranged to order and stock the abortion pill in their health care facility."

The ACLU's lawsuit has succeeded in its goal of further loosening the FDA's restrictions on mifepristone that would allow women to have a medically induced abortion at home even if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, according to Politico.

"I think that makes it much more accessible for people where they don't actually have to physically come into a clinic, they don't have to expose themselves to COVID, they can do this all from the comfort of their home," D.C.-based abortion provider Nisha Verma told NPR when asked about the Biden administration's loosening of FDA restrictions on mifepristone.

Pro-life activists have expressed great concern regarding the FDA's loosening of restrictions on medically induced abortions.

"The Left has somehow worked Chemical Abortion Pills into their political scheme for profit & power... and branded it as 'healthcare for women.' WHAT A LIE," Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life tweeted Thursday.

Mifepristone is approved, in a regimen with misoprostol, to end a pregnancy through 70 days of gestation, according to current FDA regulations.