Changes have arrived to a redesigned Causes: Check out new.causes.com!

Causes.com
| 11.8.23

Abortion Pill Tracker

Contact Your Reps about medication abortion

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...

Ohio Enshrines Abortion Rights in the State Constitution

November 8, 2023

  • Ohio voters passed Issue 1, the amendment that enshrines access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care in the state constitution. Ohio is the seventh state to protect abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
  • Lauren Blauvelt, co-chair of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, which introduced the amendment, said:

"The future is bright, and tonight we can celebrate this win for bodily autonomy and reproductive rights."

Do you support Issue 1?

 

Texas County Votes in Favor of Abortion Transport Ban

October 26, 2023

  • In a 3-0 vote, conservative commissioners in Lubbock County, Texas, voted to outlaw the act of transporting pregnant people along their roads for an abortion. 
  • Lubbock, home to 300,000 people, is the largest jurisdiction in the country to pass a restriction on abortion-related transportation since the end of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
  • Six other cities and counties in Texas have already passed similar bans. Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle, held a public hearing to consider a similar ordinance on Tuesday.
  • The campaign to ban abortion-related transit in Texas was started by Christian Pastor Mark Lee Dickson and was drafted in coordination with Jonathan F. Mitchell, the former solicitor general of Texas who constructed the state's 2021 abortion ban.

Do you support transport the ban?

Abortion Rights Group Sues on Behalf of Women Denied Care

September 21, 2023

  • The Center for Reproductive Rights filed legal actions in Tennessee, Idaho, and Oklahoma last week on behalf of women who were denied abortion care during medical emergencies.
  • The actions include lawsuits against the states of Idaho and Tennessee and a federal complaint lodged with the Department of Health and Human Services against a hospital in Oklahoma.
  • The lawsuits do not seek to overturn the abortion bans in these states but rather to draw attention to the trauma and harm plaintiffs suffer when doctors fail to provide abortions out of fear of liability.

Do you support the lawsuits?

 

Geography of Abortion Shows Increase in Inter-State Travel

September 7, 2023

  • A new study from the reproductive policy-focused Guttmacher Institute has found that women seeking an abortion are “highly motivated” to travel interstate. 
  • States that are neighbored by states where abortions have been banned or restricted have seen an increase in the number of abortions performed. In “haven states” like Illinois, there were 18,300 more abortions performed in the first half of 2023 compared to 2020. New Mexico saw a 220% increase in the number of abortions performed.
  • In Texas, there were four abortions on average per month, down from 4,800 per month in 2020. Women who can no longer access abortions in states like Texas have no option but to travel across state lines.

Do you support increased abortion access?

Appeals Court Restricts Access to Abortion Pill

August 17, 2023

  • A federal appeals court panel ruled that the abortion pill should remain legal in the U.S. but imposed significant restrictions on its accessibility. The decision will prohibit the drug from being sent through the mail and prescribed by telemedicine but keeps the FDA's 23-year-long approval of the pill in place. 
  • For now, the ruling will have no effect on mifepristone — in April, the Supreme Court declared it would remain available under the current rules. After the appeals court ruling, the Justice Department requested that the justices hear the case. The court will likely act in the next few months, either agreeing to restrict access to the pill or hearing the appeal.
  • If the Supreme Court upholds the appeal court's decision, it will reverse changes made by the FDA in recent years to increase access to the pill.

Do you support keeping the abortion pill legal and accessible?

BILL: Should Abortions be Covered by Insurance? - EACH Act of 2023 - H.R.561

August 14, 2023

  • Requires federal health care programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to provide coverage for abortion services and requires federal facilities to provide access to those services.
  • Repeals the Hyde Amendment, which restricts Medicaid coverage for abortion. Currently, coverage for abortion services under federal programs is generally only available in the case of rape, incest, or life endangerment. 
  • Repeals a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that permits states to prohibit coverage of abortion services in plans offered through a health insurance exchange.
  • The bill is not subject to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion, even if the burden results from the application of a law.

Tell your reps to support or oppose this bill

Victory for Abortion Rights: Ohio Voters Reject Issue 1

August 9, 2023

  • In a move celebrated by abortion rights activists, Ohio voters rejected a Republican-supported motion to make it difficult to change the state’s constitution.
  • The measure was seen as an attempt to derail a planned referendum to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution. Public polling found that almost 60% of Ohio voters support including abortion rights in the state constitution.
  • The defeat of Issue 1, the measure voted on, means an amendment only needs to pass by a 50% plus one margin rather than the 60% proposed by the GOP-controlled state legislature. Nearly 57% of Ohio residents voted against the measure, with 43% voting in favor of it, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. 

Do you want abortion rights to be enshrined in your state constitution? Let your reps know

Nineteen-Year-Old Jailed for Abortion in Nebraska

July 21, 2023

  • A 19-year-old woman in Nebraska has been sentenced to 90 days in jail and two years of probation for ending a pregnancy with the abortion pill when she was 17. Despite being underage, she was charged as an adult.
  • The teen’s mother is also awaiting sentencing, scheduled for September 22, on two felony charges and one misdemeanor.
  • The investigation into the teen and her mother, who ordered the pills, began when someone tipped off police about a stillbirth and disposal of a fetus. Police then sent a warrant to Meta requesting messages between the mother and the daughter, to which Meta complied.
  • "Self-managed abortions" are not explicitly illegal in Nebraska, but prosecutors have criminalized women by charging them under other statutes. At the time of her abortion, the procedure was banned after 20 weeks post-fertilization, and she was 28 weeks pregnant at the time of the termination.
  • Nebraska has since passed a 12-week ban, but this only applies to licensed abortion providers in the state, not people managing their own abortions.
  • Emma Roth, an attorney with Pregnancy Justice, said:

“[The prosecutors] tried to paint a portrait of this mother and daughter in a negative light and to deprive them of their humanity and to erase the fact that we’re talking about a teenager who was not ready to have a child.”

Do you support the jail sentence?

America One Year After the Overturn of Roe v. Wade

June 27, 2023

  • A year after the Supreme Court ruled against the federal right to an abortion and overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson, here is where abortion rights stand across the country.
  • Approximately 22 million women of reproductive age live in states where abortion access is heavily restricted or outlawed. Some women have since reported driving upwards of 4,000 miles to access a safe, legal abortion.
  • As of June 26, 2023, abortion is largely banned in 15 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Georgia has a six-week ban in place — a time before many people know they are pregnant.

Do you support increased abortion access?

New Bill Funds Abortion Training in Banned States

June 20, 2023

  • Following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022, several states have banned abortion training for obstetrician-gynecologists.
  • To be licensed, aspiring OB-GYNs need to learn to perform the procedure and prescribe abortion medications. However, after the Supreme Court revoked Roe v. Wade, countless medical schools could stop providing this training to practitioners.
  • In response, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, introduced the Reproductive Health Care Training Act.
  • The act establishes a grant program to provide $25 million yearly for the next five years to fund medical students who need to leave their state of residence to learn abortion care. The funding will also support eligible programs accepting an influx of out-of-state students.

Do you support funding for abortion training?

Three Conservative Judges to Hear Arguments on Abortion Pill 

May 17, 2023

  • 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?

April 28, 2023

  • 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

April 21, 2023

  • 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

April 14, 2023

  • 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

April 13, 2023

  • 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

April 10, 2023

  • 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

March 20, 2023

  • 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.

March 15, 2023

  • 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

March 13, 2023

  • 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 Attorney General: People Will Be Prosecuted Over Abortion Pills

February 10, 2023

  • 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

February 1, 2023

  • 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. 

Do you think morning-after pills should be free nationwide? Let your representatives know

Mexico Helping Americans Get Abortion Meds – Should More Countries?

August 12, 2022

  • 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

July 18, 2022

  • 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?