In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine to allow for continued access to mifepristone,Amnesty International USA’s National Director of Programs, Tarah Demant, said:
“As the FDA and studies have already established, mifepristone is a safe and effective pharmaceutical for medication abortion.
“More than half of abortions in this country are medication abortions, and limiting access to mifepristone would violate the human right of women, girls, and people who can become pregnant to access abortion care. People across the U.S. are already navigating a patchwork of devastating abortion bans and healthcare deserts, and making people jump through hoops to access this medicine would have been a further attack on the right of people to make their own decisions about their bodies without government interference.
“This case was never about the safety of mifepristone. Instead, it was brought by anti-abortion actors who would end abortion in all cases tomorrow if they had their way. While, luckily, this decision did not make accessing a medication abortion more challenging, politicians and courts should not have the ability to meddle with peoples’ medical decisions, including abortion.
“All people have the human right to the highest attainable standard of health, including the medication they need. This decision will ensure that, for now, fewer people will be blocked from accessing mifepristone and medication abortions, which is especially important against the backdrop of the current human rights crisis in this country due to the number of abortion bans and restrictions.”
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