Abortion Pills Prescribed by Pharmacists Are Newest Effort in Abortion Fight
The New York Times, January 7, 2025
Pharmacists have begun prescribing abortion pills, not simply dispensing the medication – a development intended to broaden abortion access by taking advantage of rules that give them prescribing ability in most states. The new effort is small so far – a pilot program in Washington State – but the idea is expected to be tried in other states where abortion remains legal. Supporters of abortion rights consider pharmacist prescribing part of an effort to open as many avenues as possible at a time when abortion pills are facing growing attacks from abortion opponents. Pharmacists are regulated by states, so their ability to prescribe specific medications cannot be blocked by the federal government. But if the incoming Trump administration wanted to stop pharmacists from prescribing abortion pills, it could try to reinstate Food and Drug Administration regulations that required that only doctors prescribe mifepristone, the first pill in the two-drug medication abortion regimen. Pills are now the method used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States, and many studies have shown that medication abortion is safe and that serious complications are rare. On Tuesday, the Pharmacist Abortion Access Project reported that in a pilot program conducted between Oct. 31 and Nov. 26, 10 pharmacists across Washington State had prescribed abortion pills to 43 patients.
Orlando Doctor Fined $10K for Not Complying With 24-Hour Abortion Wait Period
NBC 6 South Florida, January 4, 2025
After the state Department of Health called for revoking the doctor’s license, the Florida Board of Medicine this week issued a final order imposing a $10,000 fine and reprimanding a physician who did not comply in 2022 with a law requiring 24-hour waiting periods before abortions can be performed. The order came after the board decided last month to approve penalties for physician Candace Sue Cooley that were less severe than what the Department of Health wanted. The board, which is responsible for disciplining medical doctors, agreed with penalties recommended in September by Administrative Law Judge James H. Peterson III. The final order was posted Friday on the state Division of Administrative Hearings website. The case stemmed from 193 abortions that Cooley, an obstetrician and gynecologist, performed at the Center of Orlando for Women clinic during a two-week period immediately after the waiting-period law took effect. The case went to the Division of Administrative Hearings as Cooley challenged a Department of Health complaint. The Legislature passed the waiting-period requirement in 2015. It requires women to receive information from doctors about abortions and then wait at least 24 hours before having the procedures. But the law did not take effect until after an April 2022 ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey in a long-running lawsuit.
Idahoans Can Now Get Six Months of Birth Control Under New Law
Idaho Capital Sun, January 6, 2025
More Idahoans can now receive up to a half year of prescription birth control medication at a time. That’s thanks to a new law the Idaho Legislature narrowly passed in 2024. The law – passed through Senate Bill 1234 – requires insurance companies to cover six months of prescription contraception coverage for health plans starting Jan. 1. In debate, bill sponsor Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, said the new law would make it easier for women who can only access a one- or three-month supply of birth control through insurance.”This policy represents a significant step forward in supporting Idahoans’ health, economic stability and autonomy at a time our draconian, conflicting reproductive rights laws have led to pregnant women being airlifted to Utah and more than 22% of our OBGYNs fleeing the state,” Wintrow wrote in a column published Thursday in the Idaho Statesman. The bill specifies it isn’t requiring insurance companies to cover emergency contraception or medications to induce abortions.
The Rise of Permanent Forms of Contraception in the Post-Roe World
U.S. News, January 7, 2025
In the more than two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and effectively eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, research has pointed to health implications associated with policies limiting access to the procedure – most notably, rising rates of infant mortality. Now, new data suggests the high court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization may have played a large role in an increased number of young adults opting to seek permanent forms of contraception. Researchers behind a recent analysis of medical claims data from January 2021 through December 2022 found the number of tubal sterilizations increased 70% among women between the ages of 19 and 26 years in August 2022 compared to May 2022, the same month the Supreme Court’s draft majority decision was leaked. Vasectomy services among men in the same age group rose 95% during that time frame. The study was published Monday in the journal Health Affairs.”The Dobbs decision has had a profound effect on young adults’ reproductive choices, leading many to opt for permanent contraception in the months following the decision,” says study co-author Julia Strasser, director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Some States on Track To Restore Abortion Access, While Others Push for Fetal Rights in 2025
Arkansas Advocate, January 2, 2025
Heading into the third year since Roe v. Wade was overturned, states will continue to introduce and consider legislation to expand or restrict access to reproductive health care and abortion as legislative sessions begin. In anticipation of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, states with broad reproductive rights protections have introduced bills to shield patients and doctors if the incoming Republican administration overturns protections implemented under President Joe Biden. States with strict bans, meanwhile, have started floating fetal personhood bans, abortion pill punishments and other restrictions. Most legislatures will convene during the second week in January or later and adjourn midway through the year.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
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Note: The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
