If States Can Ban Abortion, How About Abortion Pills?
In a Q&A, law professor Greer Donley makes the case for broad access to medication abortion, no matter the fate of Roe v. Wade.
Abortion pill.
Photographer: NewsmakersIf the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that established a right to reproductive choice, abortion could soon be nearly impossible to obtain — even outlawed — in half of the country. The best way to preserve reproductive rights would be to codify abortion rights into law. But Wednesday’s failed vote in the US Senate demonstrated that is politically unrealistic for now.
There might be a way to ensure women’s legal access to abortion isn’t entirely shut off, however, by focusing on federal authority for regulating all drugs. That authority includes medication abortion, a two-pill regimen that can be used during the first 10 weeks of a pregnancy, obtained through a telehealth visit and a prescription delivered in the mail.