Abortion Pill Turns Ten, Fight for Access Continues

September 28th marks the ten-year anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion drug, mifepristone. An alternative to surgical abortion, the pill provides a convenient and less-invasive way for women to terminate early pregnancies. Although opponents fought ardently to prevent its approval in the U.S. back in 1998 (it was already approved in France), it has proven to be safe, effective and popular. But despite its track record, foes of the pill are still fighting for its demise. This time, the attack is on a new and innovative method for dispersal.

Under fire is a novel telemedicine program in Iowa that allows women access to the pill without having to go to a clinic for the drug to be dispensed. Instead of an in-person meeting, the doctor consults with the patient via a video teleconference, and then unlocks a container by remote control to release the pill. So far, the program has provided the pill to about 1,900 women, according to the Associated Press.

If the program is expanded to other states, it might help provide access to abortion for women in rural areas, where they often do not have access to a doctor willing to provide a surgery. And this is exactly what abortion foes are worried about.

Although the pill, marketed as Miseprex, hasn't increased the number of abortions done in the U.S., more and more women are chosing medication abortions when they do have them. According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2007, 158,000 medication abortions were performed using mifepristone, an estimated 21 percent of all eligible abortions that year. Sales of the drug, which is given in conjunction with misoprostol, have continued to grow 10–15 percent annually since 2007.

However, the Institute also notes that although use of mifeprisonte has become widespread, it has not susbstantially improved women's geographic access to abortion -- most medication abortions are provided at or near facilities that already offer surgical abortions. The telemedicine option would help to solve that.

The potential increase in access has rubbed anti-abortion advocates the wrong way. They have asked the Iowa Board of Medicine to prevent the Planned Parenthood of the Heartland from continuing the program. Because the telemedicine program doesn't require face-to-face meeting with a doctor, they say it could pose a risk to a woman's health and doesn't comply with the state's medical standards. Women seeking the telemedicine option still have to have go into one of Planned Parenthood's clinics in Iowa, have an ultrasound and see a nurse.

What the opponents don't say is that the medication abortion has actually helped women have safer abortions. The abortion pill can be used up to nine weeks into a pregnancy, and increased availability of the medication has allowed women to terminate their pregnancies earlier, before six or nine weeks. According to RH Reality Check, the earlier in an unintended pregnancy an abortion occurs, the safer and less costly it is.

Celebrating the pill's ten-year anniversary, it seems apropos that an innovative method for distribution should be unveiled. It also seems fitting that a protest is already underway. The fight for increased access and choice is one that continues, in the halls of Congress and now, over the internet.

Photo credit: e-MagineArt.com