The Right’s Upside-Down Argument Against the Abortion Pill |
The Right’s Upside-Down Argument Against the Abortion Pill
In Louisiana’s attempt to restrict the telehealth prescription of mifepristone, the lawsuit redefines reproductive freedom as “coercion” or “abusing women,” and genuine coercion as “states’ rights” or “protecting women.” It couldn’t be more wrong.
Over the last few days, the courts have contributed yet again to the ongoing American whiplash about abortion access. On Friday, a ruling from the super-conservative Fifth Circuit appeals court essentially overrode Food and Drug Administration guidelines for mifepristone, one of two drugs used for medication abortion, so that it could no longer be prescribed by a telehealth provider. Manufacturers of the drug requested that the Supreme Court intervene, and on Monday the court issued an administrative stay for one week. As mifepristone was restricted and made available again over the course of a few days, anyone just trying to get a prescription could be forgiven for not knowing whether a provider would be willing to prescribe it. This kind of confusion is useful for anti-abortion groups, for whom killing Roe was never the final goal but only a step along the way to ending abortion entirely. Or, as the plaintiffs in this latest mifepristone challenge put it in the opening line of their lawsuit, “The fight for life is far from over.”
The legal challenge, brought by the attorney general of Louisiana, alongside the Christian nationalist law project Alliance Defending Freedom, argues that the FDA, by increasing access to mifepristone, is responsible for instances of reproductive coercion. The lawsuit also argues that by allowing people in a state where abortion is banned to obtain pills from providers in states without bans, the FDA guidelines interfere with the state’s sovereign laws. These claims get things more or less backward. Access to medication abortion, far from encouraging the coercion of pregnant people, has allowed those in abusive relationships, including those whose partners have sexually assaulted them, to access abortion privately, thus reducing the........