Restriction of safe “abortion medication” is creating an angry collision between state and federal law.
In the fight over reproductive rights, medication abortion is emerging as the next legal battleground.
“It’s very safe and effective, and you can do it in the privacy of your home” if used within 10 weeks, said attorney Laurie Sobel, associate director for Women’s Health Policy at San Francisco’s Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization focusing on national health issues. Moments after the Supreme Court ruling, the federal government said it would seek to protect access to medication abortion.
There is no guarantee that the Biden administration will prevail. The courts may side with the conservative states, noting that even though the drugs have been proven safe and effective, they still induce abortions illegal under the laws of those states, said Hank Greely, director of Stanford University’s Center for Law and the Biosciences.