The Daily Escape:
Kennebunk, ME – January 2023 photo by Eric Storm Photography
Buried in the McCarthy debacle last week was some good news on the abortion front. From the NYT:
âFor the first time, retail pharmacies, from corner drugstores to major chains like CVS and Walgreens, will be allowed to offer abortion pills in the United States under a regulatory change made Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration.â
The online magazine STAT asked an interesting question: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âWhen the Food and Drug Administration lifted some â but not all â of its restrictions on an abortion pill this week, it raised questions about why these rules were there in the first place. Mifepristone, the drug in question, has been used by over 3.7 million Americans to end early pregnancies since its approval in 2000, is more than 97% effective, tends to have only mild side effects such as cramping, with severe ones occurring in fewer than 0.5% of patients. So why was it on a list of prescription drugs requiring extra precautions and red tape, alongside opioid painkillers?â
More from STAT:
âMany reproductive rights advocates celebrated the change. But to others, the agency hadnât gone far enough. Having the drug on a list of medicines that require a risk mitigation strategy gives the false impression that itâs dangerous, they argue. To them, it should be treated like any other pharmaceutical thatâs been proven safe and effective.â
That might help to ensure greater access at a time when some states have banned it.
Mifepristone pills are already used for more than half of pregnancy terminations in the US. There has been growing demand for them since the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, the 50-year old federal right to abortion.
With Conservative states moving quickly to ban or sharply restrict abortion, these pills have become the focus of political and legal battles, all of which can influence whether an individual pharmacy will dispense the medication.
The availability of mifepristone through pharmacies will probably vary depending upon location. Deep Red areas will probably have fewer pharmacies willing to dispense it – a combination of more pharmacists exercising their right to substitute their morality for a womanâs, and a fear by the pharmacy of negative consequences ranging from boycotts to fire bombings.
Abortion pills are only a small percentage of any pharmacyâs sales, but they could have a big impact on its public profile. Such calculations will influence a pharmacyâs decision, as will the fact that in about half of the US states, abortion bans or restrictions would make it illegal or very difficult for pharmacies to provide abortion pills.
So, yes, this is a positive development, but it wonât be a panacea: Some Republican-allied group will soon start a court battle to try to reverse the FDAâs policy. Eventually, it will come before the six Christian justices on the Supreme Court. This is a battle for civil rights. It needs to be fought on every level from local to federal, and every incremental victory matters.
We canât let what may happen down the road prevent us from celebrating a win. The Republicans and the Conservative movement arenât omnipotent gods. We still live in a world where working, fighting, and voting can make a difference.
Consider this: The Republicanâs House majority is due to just 6,670 votes out of 107 million cast, says Inside Elections, a nonpartisan publication. That means every vote cast in 2022 mattered. And if a few more in the right places had been cast, it could have made a generational difference.
Time to wake up America! Every year that American women can continue to access abortion, (chemical or otherwise) matters. Every effort to stem the tide of the many actions that are threatening our civil liberties matter. All of this says we still have the power to change America for the better.
To help you wake up, listen to John Mayer perform his 2006 Grammy-winning hit, âWaiting on the World to Changeâ from his third studio album, Continuum. The song is kind of an apologia for Gen Y’s well-documented apathy, but even that has changed quite a bit in the 17 years since it was written:
Sample of lyrics:
Me and all my friends
We’re all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There’s no way we ever could
Now we see everything that’s going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it
[Chorus] And we’re still waiting (Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting (Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
One day our generation Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting (Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
I have worked in life and disability insurance since 1983, reviewing medical records etc. I work closely with doctors. So I want to suggest that there is nothing unusual in how the abortion pill started as a prescription drug. Most (all?) do and only slowly enter into the over the counter world. In the instance here – let’s compare it to claritin. With claritin the person who takes the recommended dose has virtually no issues afterword. The abortion pill does cause a direct result and one would hope that anyone who needs this pill also can get to a doctor if they have problems.
I say this as one who supports the right to abortion. That the pill is no OTC if fine but there is certainly a risk and far more than the typical OTC drug (such as omeprazole). Most OTC drugs only have adverse effects over a period of time. This drug is a bit more serious.
Again – all in favor, but going OTC is a real concern. Too bad we can’t simply accept abortion.
@ Terry, the FDA didn’t make Mifepristone an OTC drug. The January modifications made qualifying for providers and pharmacies easier and reduced the paperwork required by the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program:
Mifepristone must still be prescribed by a health care provider who is certified under the Mifepristone REMS Program. To become certified to prescribe mifepristone, health care providers must complete a Prescriber Agreement Form w/FDA. The provider must have the patient complete a Patient Agreement Form that’s signed by the patient and the health care provider
Mifepristone may only be dispensed by certified pharmacies based on a prescription issued by a certified prescriber. To become certified to dispense mifepristone, pharmacies must complete a Pharmacy Agreement Form with the FDA. So, not an OTC drug.