FDA approves abortion pill for wider use

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday eased some restrictions on a pill that induces abortion, its first substantial policy change on the topic in two decades.

The FDA’s new policy will allow the use of the pill for up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy, compared to the previous policy of seven weeks. Obtaining the pill will still require a prescription, though fewer visits to the doctor will be required.

{mosads}The decision was cheered by abortion rights advocates from Planned Parenthood to the National Abortion Federation, as well as Congressional Democrats.

“I hope this sends a clear message to those who impose politically motivated, medically unnecessary restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health care,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote in a statement.

The regulatory change will likely reverberate into the numerous court battles already ongoing over access to abortion.

The Center for Reproductive Rights is leading the legal fight against a 2013 Texas law that restricts access to abortion, including the pill, and said the FDA’s move helped support their case.

“This label change underscores just how medically unnecessary and politically motivated restrictions medication abortion in states like Texas and Oklahoma truly are,” said Nancy Northup, the group’s president and CEO.

The FDA is wading into the hotly contested issue of abortion just ahead of the 2016 presidential race, an election cycle that has already seen the issue of abortion go before the Supreme Court. A decision in that case, which involves the 2013 Texas law, is expected to come this summer.