Research Spotlight on Medication Abortion

With constant attacks on science and established evidence in our news cycles, the SiX Reproductive Rights team is committed to making the facts accessible so state legislators can push back on misinformation and push forward with evidence-informed policy that respects people’s decisions about their lives and their health care.

The body of public health, social science, and clinical research on abortion care is vast and SiX is here to help you identify and use rigorous data in your various roles as a legislator, whether that be in policy, committee, with the press, or for constituent services.

The Basics

• In the United States, medication abortion most commonly refers to the combination of mifepristone and misoprostol. Around the world millions of people also use misoprostol alone for abortion.
• Medication abortion care is a safe and effective way to end a pregnancy and manage miscarriage care.
• Over 60% of clinician provided abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions. People also safely self-manage abortion using medication in the U.S. Unfortunately, self-managing abortion in the current patchwork of state laws can sometimes mean taking a legal risk.
• A majority of adults in the U.S believe that medication abortion should remain legal, nearly three in five want people to have access to medication abortion via telehealth.

Push Back – Responding to attacks 

• The established FDA guidance on medication abortion was repeatedly questioned during confirmation hearings for Secretary of Health and Human Services in January.
  • Did you know? The studies frequently cited to try and attack the safety of mifepristone were all formally retracted by the journals that published them due to lack of scientific rigor.
  • A guide to federal agencies and their impacts on sexual and reproductive health from the Guttmacher Institute.

• The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), an anti-abortion organization, has been granted permission to revive their case attacking FDA approval of mifepristone. Three states- Indiana, Kansas, and Missouri- will be re-litigating the U.S. Supreme Court case that 646 state legislators spoke out against in 2024
  • Case explainer from the EMAA Project.

• Several states introduced bills to criminalize the purchase, sale or distribution of abortion medicines in states that already have abortion bans, including copycats of Louisiana’s reclassification of mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances.
  • Lift Louisiana is pushing back on the law and the way it was passed in the legislature.

Push Forward- Evidence informed movement 

States are leading the way in ensuring people have continued access to medication abortion, with policy driven by research and data.  

• Arizona state legislators introduced bills to repeal existing regulations on the mailing of abortion medication and telehealth provision of medication abortion following their success repealing the state’s 1846 abortion ban last year.
  • Research shows that telehealth provision of medication abortion is safe and effective and reduces logistical barriers to care.

• Nevada state legislators introduced a bill to decriminalize self-managed abortion.
  • Nevada is one of two states that has a criminal law against self-managed abortion on the books (although many states still misuse other parts of statute to criminalize people who manage their own pregnancy outcomes.

• Washington state continues to build out pharmacist provision of medication abortion.
  • Recent studies in California and Washington have found that pharmacist provision of medication abortion is a replicable way to close gaps in access.

• New York is expanding protections for providers of medication abortion under their existing Shield law.

For more SiX RFLC resources select ‘Medication Abortion’ in the SiX RFLC Resource Library to find toolkits, video explainers, and messaging support.

Have a specific question? Contact Us.