The disproportionate burdens of the mifepristone REMS

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare and deepened existing health care inequities – including, and in some places, especially, reproductive health care. In a new commentary in Contraception, the authors, including CPHLR Program Manager Adrienne Ghorashi, Esq., argue that permanently lifting the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for mifepristone in its entirety would expand access to early abortion and miscarriage care. Mifepristone, one of two drugs used to end early pregnancy and manage a miscarriage, remains under policy legal barriers. The authors explain how removing the mifepristone REMS can provide better access to abortion care and reduce barriers for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. Without the REMS in place, changing state laws and restrictions on telehealth, insurance coverage and Medicaid to provide better access to abortion care is possible.