Throughout the country, patients are turning to telehealth appointments and online pharmacies for routine medical care without having to leave their homes during the COVID-19 outbreak. But for most pregnant people seeking safe and effective FDA-approved abortion pills in a pandemic, the FDA still requires them to pick up mifepristone (the first of two medications that together to terminate a pregnancy) from designated clinics and doctors’ offices in person — even though the FDA permits patients to wait until they get home to swallow the pill and even though the abortion itself always takes place at home.

That’s because the FDA imposes politically motivated, medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, despite its proven safety record. These requirements have long harmed patients’ health by delaying or blocking access to medication abortion. Now, they’re forcing both patients and medical staff to travel during a pandemic, don protective gear, and increase their exposure to potentially sick individuals — with no corresponding health benefit to justify these serious risks. Some states have attempted to prohibit clinic-based abortion services altogether by falsely declaring that abortions are “nonessential” procedures and can be delayed during the outbreak. But even in states with robust support for abortion access, clinics can be affected by nationwide shortages of basic medical supplies and personal protective equipment, such as gloves and masks. In every case, there’s no reason to require pregnant people to travel (sometimes long distances) for consultations that could be performed remotely to receive FDA-approved medication that could be delivered in the mail.

Leading medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and health advocacy groups, including the National Women’s Health Network, have long called for these restrictions to be lifted. Now 21 state Attorneys General and even the New York Times agree: the FDA must lift these restrictions and let pregnant people receive the abortion pill through the mail! 

You can add your voice by signing the petition to the FDA today!

TO: FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn

Let us get the abortion pill where we take the abortion pill — at home! Protect pregnant people and the health care system during the global COVID-19 outbreak by immediately allowing safe and effective, FDA-approved abortion pills to be obtained through mail.