Four Democrat-Led States Ask FDA to Lift Restrictions on Abortion Pill

The attorneys general of four Democrat-led states—New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California—petitioned the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, June 5, asking the agency to lift what they view as unnecessary restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone. The petition aims to force the FDA to acknowledge robust clinical evidence and decades of mifepristone use that support the drug’s safety and efficacy. The move comes just one month after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Congress that he ordered a safety review of the abortion pill. An FDA spokesperson confirmed plans for the review in a statement to CBS News on Tuesday, June 3. According to the FDA, mifepristone, approved by the regulator in 2000, is a drug that blocks the hormone progesterone, which is necessary for pregnancy to continue. It is most commonly used in combination with the drug misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy within 10 weeks of gestation. An analysis of 2023 data by ... Read full article.