Defend Access to Abortion Pill–Rally and March

IMPORTANT: PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR DATE CHANGES! The event will be the first Saturday AFTER the ruling in the FDA case is announced!
-Defend access to the abortion pill!
-Hands off the bodies of pregnant people!
-Free, safe, legal abortion on demand!
-Defeat homophobic and anti-trans bills nationwide!
-Down with book banning!
The right wing is now coming for the abortion pill, with a federal lawsuit in Texas aiming to strike down FDA approval of the abortion pill nationwide. The decision from Trump-appointed Judge Kacsmaryk will come any day now.
Our demo will be the Saturday after Judge Kacsmaryk rules in the FDA abortion case. The earliest date we anticipate for the demo is Saturday April 8th @ 1pm at the federal courthouse in Detroit. Actions may be pushed back depending on when the decision comes out.
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Michigan Coalition for Reproductive Liberation (MCRL) statement on the FDA abortion case in Texas:
​​A majority of all U.S. abortions are medical procedures in which two pills are administered within the first 2-3 months of pregnancy. The first, mifepristone, blocks the hormone progesterone that sustains pregnancy and dilates the cervix.
The second pill, misoprostol, is taken 24-48 hours later. It causes the uterus to contract and expel the pregnancy tissue.
Nearly six million people who wanted to terminate their pregnancy have used this procedure since its approval by the Federal Drug Administration in 2000. Bleeding is a common side effect but serious complications are very rare. Medication abortions are certainly much safer than the various complications that can take place if the pregnancy is continued. U.S. medical abortions are 95% effective, meaning no additional medication or intervention is needed.
The percentage of medical abortions has increased because it is safe, relatively inexpensive and mostly occurs in the privacy of one’s home. Particularly with the pandemic and greater use of telemedicine, and especially since the Dobbs decision, the rate has increased even further. The New York Times reports that the Trust Women clinic in Wichita, Kansas sees more than 500 patients a month, with many coming from Texas where abortion is banned. Sixty percent of the patients opt for a medical procedure.
The FDA has maintained requirements for administering mifepristone but loosened them during the pandemic so that pharmacies that are certified can dispense both pills with a prescription.
In response to the availability of medical abortion, a rightwing outfit, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine shopped around for a rightwing federal judge, and decided to bring a lawsuit against the FDA before Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas. The lawsuit claims that the FDA did not follow proper protocols when it approved the two-drug procedure in 2000 and has harmful side effects. This is the first time the FDA has been legally challenged so the lawsuit has wide implications even beyond abortion.
A Trump appointee, Judge Kacsmryk, has previously ruled that thousands of asylum seekers had to return to Mexico to await their hearings, opposed protections for transgender people, as well as challenged a low-cost contraceptive program that includes teenagers who do not have parental consent. (These cases have been appealed.)
The expectation is that the judge will issue a negative ruling against one or both pills, but most likely against mifepristone. (Misoprostol is also used to prevent ulcers in people who take certain arthritis or pain medication.) If that happens the FDA will almost certainly appeal the ruling and seek a stay.
The FDA could also undertake a review or simply stop regulating mifepristone. Under either option the two-pill procedure could continue.
Most of the world only uses misoprostol for abortion and the World Health Organization has
determined this procedure is safe and effective. Mifepristone is used in addition to misoprostol in U.S. abortions to minimize side effects.
That is, mifepristone abortions more typically have side effects including diarrhea, fever or chills — but has a similar outcome as the two pill regimen. Its effectiveness, depending on dosage and other factors, ranges from 87-98%. (See https://www.contraceptionjournal.org/article/S0010-7824(23)00060-4/fulltext)
The attempt by the rightwing to outlaw medical abortion reveals – as do all other attempts to
criminalize abortion – how determined they are to prevent women and others who may become pregnant from exercising their right to bodily autonomy that is necessary for life. What we know with certainty is that those who have unwanted pregnancies will do everything in their power to control their lives and we will stand with them. Hands off the bodies of pregnant people!
https://www.facebook.com/events/3547930928769291/