Mifepristone, also known as the abortion pill or medication abortion, is an extremely safe and effective option for women terminating an early pregnancy. In fact, it has a safety record of over 99% and an efficacy rate of over 98%! Women often report that medication abortion feels more private and less invasive than vacuum aspiration abortion since it can often be completed in a woman’s home - and that they feel empowered using it.

Despite having been on the market for 15 years, far too few women know about and utilize this safe and effective option for abortion care. Unfortunately, opponents to safe and legal abortion have passed laws making this option difficult or impossible to access. In some states, mifepristone is the only drug that doctors cannot prescribe by telemedicine.

This is a clear attack by anti-choice politicians on the evidence-based guidelines the Network works hard to uphold. These medically unnecessary restrictions make abortion care more costly and less available, not safer as the anti-choice forces would like you to believe. They also disproportionately impact poor women, women of color, undocumented women, and young women.

In the past 15 years, we have come a long way in improving the options for women having an abortion, but we still have a long way to go. We celebrate the ability of some women to access this safe and effective option for abortion and we also recognize that there are still too many women, particularly those most vulnerable, for whom this is not possible. The National Women’s Health Network will continue working to ensure that women who choose to use mifepristone are able to do so without ideological and medically unnecessary restrictions.

You can count on us to advocate for evidence-based guidelines that make sense for women and families - and that make good policy. Click here for a more detailed explanation of the Network’s advocacy efforts on mifepristone.