ACOG, SMFM Call for the Supreme Court to Restore Access to Mifepristone

The following is a statement from Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, MD, FACOG, President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Anthony Sciscione, DO, FACOG, President of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine: 

“Mifepristone is a safe, effective medication. The ongoing legal complexities around it – and the confusion being stoked – do not diminish the unambiguous data demonstrating this absolute, proven fact. It remains critically important to ACOG and SMFM, and to women and patients everywhere, that the safety and efficacy of mifepristone is understood, definitively. Our organizations will continue to insist that the scientific evidence be heard and recognized by the courts at all levels. It is shameful that the plaintiffs in this case have intentionally unleashed widespread confusion and fear about a safe, common, essential component of basic healthcare for the people of this country. The current confusion about the availability of mifepristone has resulted from the plaintiffs’ ideological opposition to safe, effective abortion care and their subsequent attacks on evidence-based comprehensive reproductive health care.

“ACOG and SMFM strongly oppose burdensome restrictions on mifepristone, including those the FDA has already removed such as outdated, arbitrary gestational age limits and in-person dispensing requirements. The FDA previously removed restrictions on mifepristone because the science demonstrated that they did nothing to improve the safety of an already safe medication, and that they acted as unnecessary barriers to accessing needed care. Any action that imposes unscientific restrictions on safe, effective, necessary medication is regressive and detrimental at a time when access to reproductive care is absolutely crucial. Such imposition into the vital patient-clinician relationship is exceedingly harmful and is an affront to patient-centered care.

“This judicial overreach, which flies in the face of medical evidence, infringes on the federal government’s regulatory authority, and creates even more confusion, is a travesty and a disappointing step back for reproductive health care. “Now, we urge the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Friday’s decision in its entirety.”