Guttmacher explains how FDA leadership impacts access to birth control and medication abortion, warning that abandoning scientific evidence—especially on mifepristone—could drastically restrict abortion access nationwide despite decades of proof of its safety and effectiveness.
What happens if the FDA leader ignores science?
Transcript: What could happen to abortion access in the US if the person leading the FDA abandoned scientific evidence?
The US Food and Drug Administration is responsible for ensuring that medications and medical devices are safe and effective. This oversight includes many forms of birth control and medication abortion.
If the FDA were to restrict the abortion pill mifepristone, it would have a significant impact on abortion access across the country, even in states where abortion is legal. For background. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, medication abortion use has increased in the US. About two-thirds of all US abortions are now medication abortions. And the evidence is clear. Mifepristone is safe and effective and helps to ensure the health and wellbeing of all.
Anti-abortion groups have already tried to impose medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone. Their recent efforts have failed. But a leader of the FDA who opposes abortion could help these groups realize their anti-health, anti-science and anti-rights agenda.
The bottom line? The leader of the FDA must always prioritize scientific evidence over political agendas. Learn more about how FDA leadership could affect our reproductive rights by heading to the link in our bio or visiting guttmacher.org.