Take Action On Abortion Pills
Causes.com is your source for up-to-date information about abortion pills and efforts to ban or expand access to Plan B, mifepristone, and misoprostol.
We'll provide the latest info on available products, legal battles, Texas bans, and Walgreens boycotts. Take Action Now: Tell your reps & your retailers if you support or oppose bans on abortion pills.
Access the latest information on medication abortion here...
Three Conservative Judges to Hear Arguments on Abortion Pill
- Three conservative-leaning appeals court judges, Jennifer Walker Elrod, James Ho, and Cory Wilson, will hear arguments today on whether the abortion pill, mifepristone, is safe and should remain available.
- The three judges are from the highly conservative New Orleans 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and each has a history of supporting anti-abortion legislation.
- Ho has previously referred to abortion as a "moral tragedy."
- Jennifer Walker Elrod was appointed by George W. Bush and James Ho and Cory Wilson were both nominated by Donald Trump.
Do you support keeping the abortion pill legal and accessible?
What is Next For the Abortion Pill?
- The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to keep the abortion pill mifepristone on the market after a Texas judge suspended approval of the drug on April 7 but the ultimate fate of the pill remains unclear as the lawsuit continues in the lower courts.
- The U.S. Justice Department and mifepristone manufacturers Danco Laboratories asked the Supreme Court to intervene and suspend the restrictions.
- They argued that changing the FDA's twenty-three-year-old ruling:
"[Would] create significant chaos for patients, prescribers, and the health care delivery system."
- This Friday, the Supreme Court issued a decision allowing the drug to remain on the market without the restrictions imposed by the lower courts.
- The lawsuit continues in the lower New Orleans 5th Circuit Court of Appeals where it is being reviewed.
Do you support keeping the abortion pill legal and accessible?
Supreme Court Preserves Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone
- The Supreme Court has, at least temporarily, allowed Americans to continue accessing abortion medication mifepristone.
- The legal battle over whether to reimpose restrictions - including whether the FDA properly approved the drug 20 years ago - will continue.
- Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly dissented.
Do you support the SCOTUS decision? Tell your reps
Biden Admin Files Emergency Request for Supreme Court To Restore Abortion Pill Access
- The Biden administration filed an emergency application to the Supreme Court requesting the justices pause parts of an appeals court ruling that limited the accessibility of the abortion pill.
- The application asked the court to allow the drug, mifepristone, to remain widely available while the government pursues an appeal.
- This is the first major abortion case to reach the Supreme Court since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022.
- The application criticizes the court’s ruling, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge a drug they do not take, prescribe, or understand scientifically. A second emergency application was filed by Danco Laboratories, manufacturer of the branded version of mifepristone. The company’s lawyers said the justices should defer to the FDA’s scientific expertise in determining that the drug is safe and effective.
Do you think the Supreme Court should restore nationwide access to the abortion pill?
Appeals Court Saves Partial Access to Abortion Pills, With Limitations
- A federal appeals court announced it would allow partial access to mifepristone, the abortion pill that Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas banned the sale of last week.
- Accessibility to the drug will still be limited — the appeals court declined to block parts of Kacsmaryk’s order, which reinstates restrictions on the accessibility of the pill that were initially lifted in 2016.
- The restrictions include requiring an in-person doctor visit to prescribe and dispense the drug, limiting the approval of its use to the first seven weeks of pregnancy rather than 10, and banning the distribution of the drug through mail.
- The Justice Department is stepping in to condemn the court's decision to dial back access to the pill. The Supreme Court has yet to say whether it will take up the case.
Do you support limiting the abortion pill nationwide?
Texas Judge Makes Abortion Pill Sales Illegal Nationwide
- District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended the approval of the abortion pill mifepristone — technically making its sale illegal in the U.S. — in a groundbreaking legal decision in Amarillo, Texas, on Friday.
- In Jan., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changed its regulations to allow pharmacies to obtain certification to offer abortion pills for the first time in the country’s history, increasing access for women nationwide. The decision provoked a dozen states to pass laws limiting the sale of the pills.
- Immediately after the decision in Texas, Obama appointee District Judge Thomas Rice in Washington issued a contradictory ruling, ordering the FDA not to make any changes to mifepristone access across seventeen Democrat-led states.
- The Department of Justice is seeking an emergency stay of Kacsmaryk’s order from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which would stop the order from taking effect until the court hears a full appeal. Both rulings were issued before the cases were heard, making them preliminary injunctions.
- The White House’s Gender Policy Council, Inter-Governmental Affairs, and the vice president’s office have held strategy meetings on increasing abortion access for the last few months in anticipation of Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling.
Do you support outlawing the abortion pill?
Wyoming Bans Abortion Pill, Texas Judge Considers National Ban
- The abortion pill, mifepristone, has been banned in Wyoming days before Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is set to consider ruling in favor of a nationwide ban on the pill.
- The bill was passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Mark Gordon on Friday. It will come into effect on July 1 of this year.
- Wyoming's new bill bans the distribution, sale, and prescription of the pill, and violations of the law will be classed as a misdemeanor. It will be punishable by up to six months in jail or a $9,000 fine.
- Gordon also allowed a second bill, the Life is a Human Right Act, to become law without his signature yesterday. It is a sweeping ban on abortion except in limited circumstances like incest, assault, or when the pregnant person's life or the fetus is in danger.
Do you support or oppose more states banning medication abortion?
Texas Judge Considers Banning Abortion Pill in U.S.
- Judge Matthew Macsmaryk, a Trump appointee, is considering revoking the FDA's approval of mifepristone, a ruling that could have an immediate impact on access to the medication nationwide.
- While medication abortions have been approved for use by the FDA for twenty years, anti-abortion activists claim that the FDA did not sufficiently test the safety of mifepristone before approving its use.
- Around 98% of medical abortions in the U.S. use mifepristone, combined with misoprostol, and there have been 26 deaths associated with the drug since 2000 - a rate of 0.65 deaths per 100,000 medical abortions. For comparison: the mortality rate of habitual aspirin use is around 15.3 deaths per 100,000 aspirin users.
Contact your reps: Should the U.S. ban medication abortion?
Walgreens Refuses To Sell Abortion Pills in 21 States, Sparking Boycott
- Walgreens is facing backlash for its decision not to sell the medication abortion pill mifepristone after lawmakers in twenty states threatened the drugstore giant with legal consequences if they sell or ship the drug to residents.
- Walgreens said it would not sell abortion drugs in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana — states where abortion remains legal — but has not provided a reason. CVS and Rite Aid have not made any specific announcements.
- California is boycotting Walgreens, ending its $54 million contract that enabled the pharmacy to supply prescription drugs for the California Department of General Services (DGS). The contract will end on May 1, 2023.
Will you stand up for abortion care and boycott Walgreens?
Alabama AG: People Will Be Prosecuted Over Abortion Pills
- Twenty-two Republican-led states have voiced approval for a nationwide injunction on the use of medication abortions.
- The state attorneys filed a brief asking the U.S. District Court in Amarillo to block the Food and Drug Administration's 2000 approval of mifepristone.
- Twenty-two Democratic attorneys generals opposed the injunction, arguing that it "would be nothing short of catastrophic." The Republican brief says that the FDA:
"[H]as acted to establish a nationwide regime of on-demand abortion ... in defiance of federal and state laws protecting life, health, and safety."
How do you feel about decreased access to medication abortions? Tell Your Reps:
Alternatives to Plan B for Emergency Contraception
- Plan B is one of the most popular forms of emergency contraception today, but it's not the only one available. Various other morning-after options do the same thing and work in the same way — stopping the process of ovulation in order to prevent pregnancy.
Click here for more information - and ways to access - ella, Take Action, AfterPill, Paragard, and birth control pills.
Mexico Helping Americans Get Abortion Meds – Should More Countries?
- Organizations in Mexico are intensifying efforts to help Americans seeking abortions after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion.
- Volunteer organizations have helped thousands of people across Mexico access abortion medication without visiting an abortion provider. They're now expanding their model to the U.S., training volunteers, distributing pills, and providing networks of support outside of the traditional medical system.
- Verónica Cruz, the founder of Las Libres, one of the earliest abortion support networks in Mexico, said:
“In the U.S., people may fear abortion itself because it is being restricted, but overall I think it’s about the stigma of having abortions at home and beliefs that abortions are only safe if they occur in a clinic…the United States is very late to this advancement.”
Should organizations outside the U.S. help Americans seeking abortions?
Floating Health Clinics & Other Workarounds to Abortion Bans
- A California doctor has proposed building a floating abortion clinic on a ship in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, to allow women in Southern states to access first-trimester surgical abortions, medical abortions, contraception, STI testing, and other care.
- Obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Meg Autry is fundraising for the project, titled PRROWESS: Protecting Reproductive Rights of Women Endangered by State Statutes. The organization says:
“The vessel will be Coast Guard inspected and will have helicopter access for transport and emergencies. Our research indicates that patients are willing to seek care in a floating clinic, and these types of facilities have been used by the military and relief organizations for years.”
How do you feel about proposed workarounds to abortion bans?
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Legislators, my immediate family, my extended family, and my friends ask thst you most strongly oppose efforts to ban abortion pills. Please stop these authoritarian efforts, be they well intended or otherwise.
Best Regards.
Mifepristone is safer than penicillin or viagra based on 23+ years of US, and 30+ years of global safety & surveillance data. It's also safer than carrying a pregnancy to term given the high maternal mortality rates especially in red states where a pregnant woman won't get medical care while pregnant for cancer, immunologic diseases, miscarriages, etc. which increased 40% in 2022. Hospital maternity wards are being close, and doctors leaving these states, as neither wishes to incur the risks of lawsuits or losing licenses creating maternity care deserts.
Anyone who is not a doctor has no business in the way of federally approved and properly prescribed medication. Period. This includes states, pharmacies, everyone. We need to return to trusting the practice of medicine to those trained and licensed to proactice medicine and get everyone else out of the process.
I oppose any ban on the abortion pill! Every woman has the right to abortion! Woman's rights are human rights!
Mifepristone has been approved as safe by the FDA for over 20 years, and no judge nor any state should be allowed to cancel that approval no matter the politics.
While I don't approve of the "states rights" argument against abortion access, I wouldn't object to a state that has (currently) made abortion illegal's being able to block abortion medication in their state. But that cannot be allowed to cascade to other states where abortion is still legal.
Anybody who thinks that one state's governor, attorney general, or medical director should be able to make decisions that then apply to other states clearly doesn't agree with the whole "leave it up to the states" argument that was the prevailing reasoning for overturning Roe to begin with.
I expect that this battle will go all the way to the Supreme Court, but if this rescinding of FDA approval is allowed to happen for this one drug, what is next? How many other drugs and medical procedures can be outlawed because of the morality of one politician (and judge) in one state? What happens to federal authority?
I hope my Congress members are planning to write new legislation to protect FDA-approved drug access right now.
When is Viagra going to be banned?
I don't support murdering babies in the womb. The intent of these pills ends life in the womb and can be harmful to the mother in some cases. Please vote to end these harmful drugs.
Also, vote against any alliance with the WHO in the event of a pandemic and that they could mandate and compromise the sovereignty and override our constitution. This action is totally evil and it is unacceptable that the current regime would even consider placing the United States in harms way.
they don't really care, it's just to stir up their base for political points.
I am just going to be honest--MY THIRD REICH REPS WANT TO BAN ABORTIONS SO MORE BABIES ARE BORN FOR MASS SHOOTERS TO SHOOT DEAD IN SCHOOLS WITH AN AR-15!!! I am just being real!!! I am so sick of my third reich reps who have sold their soul to the devil long ago, so to rot in hell in their afterlife--they want kids to die with massive bullet holes on their bodies. Instead of helping women make a decision, they want to get more future victims in a mass shooters attack. Because to them mass shooters and AR-15 have more rights than women and children . . . So Risch and CRAPo and failed coup congressman Russ "Pimped my mommy to the Racist" Fulcher be real to your families, look them in the eyes and tell them what we all can clearly see--an AR-15 and mass shooters are more important to you than your family is. Be real!!!
Please support access to the abletion pill in all states.
Women should have control of their own bodies, their own healthcare. These bills are not only taking away our rights, but promoting the idea that only women who produce live babies should be allowed to live. And too bad if the baby is not viable, or the birth will cause complications in the mother's life, including death. Or, if it is a child who was a victim of a crime.
This is unconscionable! Politicians are not medical experts, they have no right to specify when or why a pregnancy can be terminated. Now we have doctors breaking the Hippocratic Oath, out of fear for themselves.
I remember when my mother finally could sign her actual name on a check, a contract, and open a bank or credit account. This was in the '70's ... are we reverting back to that time, or earlier? Will we lose the right to vote next?
Others may think I am being hysterical, but frankly it makes sense. Remove all of our personal rights, including proper education, then the hope is that we will be more malleable to being relegated to the role of baby production. This has been done before.
I just got paid $9871 working off my laptop this month. And if you think that's cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made over $18950 her first month. It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less. This is what I do… https://MoneyPro72.pages.dev
Not only the right wing state of Idaho stop delivering babies, but stop supplying women and girls necessary hygiene and this is by a Republican women?
Food for thought about the judge and justice and May conflict of interest?
There are a lot of reasons a women may need to take the proven SAFE abortion medication. And, frankly it's none of the politicians business. Same on husbands, boyfriends and fathers that are not supporting the females in their lives.
There are too many contrary opionions out there among the radical right. They want to ban abortion and force women into delivering more babies; is it a population thing? A religious thing? A control thing? Or all of the above. They want to control who will have the right to vote. they want to control what is learned in schools-truth or what they perceive as truth. And, then they want to close the borders and restrict immigration. Sounds like Hitler Germany. He too was a sad little white man who had many mental disorders. These ideas are totally contrary to what America has been about throughout its history. I'm so very saddened to see us move backwards toward the dark ages.
I am to old to ever worry about ever needing this pill. But I am in favor of individual choices. We should not be ruled by peoples religious beliefs. This should be controlled by medical people not judges or the religious mafia.
As an Idaho native, I firmly believe in the pro-life stance.
Abortions competed with drugs at home offer no assistance to an expectant mother who just ended a life. Whether she knows it at the time or not, she will need some support after going through something like that. Furthermore, for the environmentalists out there, we are allowing these abortion drugs to be introduced into our sewer and waste water treatment facilities. These facilities clean the water and reintroduce it to the environment, but not all chemicals are removed, including medications and abortive drugs will be no exception. These abortive drugs need to be administered only by doctors and only under emergencies.
Please support women's rights to choose.
It is always wrong to kill an innocent human being. I have contacted my reps and told them that truth.
I agree with Chris Rock that all abortion should be legal up to age 4. This would ensure that this detriment to women's health and finances could be resolved.
Leave our bodies alone.