Hey y’all! We’ve got a follow-up to our follow-up regarding the Mifepristone ruling: SCOTUS has now issued a temporary stay which means that access to Mife will not change until Wednesday April 19th at the earliest.
We will continue to follow this case and share updates as they come in. In the meantime, tell the Biden-Harris Administration to protect patients and providers and to ensure our access to Mifepristone by signing All Above All’s petition NOW!
We are entering an era in which access to medication abortion options has been severely limited – a reality so many across the South have been facing for years.
You may have heard about a change in the FDA approval of Mifepristone, a medication used in the most common method of abortion in the US, but you may not understand what this change means. After a flurry of court cases, challenges, and hearings, this is what we know:
If you live in Alabama or one of the other 12 states that have completely banned abortion since the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last June: nothing has changed, but you might find medication abortion options harder to access if you leave the state for abortion care. This new ruling means medication abortion, with use of the drug Mifepristone, is only allowed up to 7 weeks instead of 10 weeks gestation. You may also experience longer travel times out of state as changes may happen to how these medications are dispensed and how many appointments are required to receive all medications needed.
If you live outside of Alabama in one of the 37 states that has not outlawed abortion completely: you may find your options to have a medication abortion limited, especially if you are measuring over 7 weeks by the time you make it to the clinic.
The good news: Nothing has changed about how safe, effective, and reliable medication abortion is. We know how to safely end our pregnancies with medications, and WE WILL STILL BE ABLE TO HAVE AN ABORTION USING MEDICATIONS IN THE PRIVACY OF OUR OWN HOMES.
The better news: We are ready and prepared to continue helping you navigate the scary landscape that is having an abortion as a Southerner. We know that no government, no law, and no policy can prevent us from safely self-managing our abortion care needs. Yellowhammer Fund remains committed to sharing constitutionally protected information on how to safely locate and take abortion medications while taking care of your health, your heart, and your legal rights.
For more background on this case, please see our blog post: A Nationwide Ban on Mifepristone Would Affect Abortion Access in EVERY State