Health ministry gives green light to two-step treatment made by British pharmaceutical firm Linepharma
The abortion pill will become available in Japan for the first time after the health ministry approved a drug used to terminate early-stage pregnancies.
Abortion is legal in Japan up to 22 weeks, but consent is usually required from a spouse or partner, and until now a surgical procedure had been the only option.
Continue reading...Universal reproductive healthcare committee urged to better credential and train midwives as experts warn of ‘abortion deserts’
Australian midwives are calling for expanded roles, including prescribing medical abortions, as they warn of “abortion deserts” where women cannot access the healthcare they need.
In an inquiry hearing on Friday, midwives are also set to call for broader rights to prescribe contraceptives.
Continue reading...Greg Williams offered transportation for women seeking out-of-state care after the supreme court’s Dobbs decision last year
About three weeks after the US supreme court last year struck down the federal right to abortion, Greg Williams, a volunteer pilot for a group that provides free flights to people who need to travel for medical care, posted a Facebook message.
“If any women need to make an unexpected trip from the south to, say, Illinois or New Mexico or Virginia for reasons that are none of my business, I can provide safe, private air transport that would get you where you need to go and back the same day at a price that will work for you,” Williams wrote, on 28 June 2022.
Continue reading...Senator Lindsey Graham deflects questions with false claims that Democrats want a ‘barbaric’ law allowing abortions until birth
Republican frustration with the supreme court decision which on Friday blocked restrictions on a widely used abortion pill spilled into public on Sunday, as the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham lost his cool in a television interview when challenged on his flip-flopping position.
Graham, who last September proposed a national 15-week abortion ban only a month after insisting it was an issue for states to decide, became angry on CNN’s State of the Union, deflecting questions with false claims Democrats wanted a law allowing abortions until birth.
Continue reading...US supreme court has preserved access to mifepristone for now, but blue states announce plans to safeguard abortion rights
Despite a reprieve by the US supreme court, a growing number of Democratic states are stockpiling abortion pills as the legal fight for access to the abortion drug mifepristone is set to continue.
On Friday, the supreme court decided to temporarily block a lower court ruling that would have significantly restricted the availability of mifepristone, an FDA-approved abortion medication.
Continue reading...Justices consider appeal by White House following lower court order reimposing restrictions on drug mifepristone
Speaking of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, two polls were released today concerning the men that tell us … not much new.
The first, from the Wall Street Journal, confirms that Trump remains the most popular figure among contenders for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024. The WSJ was one of the few surveys that found Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has not entered the race yet but is widely expected to, with an edge over Trump in a survey released last December. That trend has now reversed: in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, Trump gets 51% support, and DeSantis 38%. The former president also beats DeSantis even in a poll that includes other potential Republican candidates – none of whom crack double-digit support.
The possible charges are two misdemeanor counts for failure to file taxes, a single felony count of tax evasion related to a business expense for one year of taxes, and the gun charge, also a potential felony.
Two senior law enforcement sources told NBC News about “growing frustration” inside the FBI because investigators finished the bulk of their work on the case about a year ago. A senior law enforcement source said the IRS finished its investigation more than a year ago.
Continue reading...The healthcare program will be available for surgical and medical abortions up to 16 weeks’ gestation
The ACT has become the first Australian jurisdiction to offer free universal access to abortion services, prompting calls for the rest of the country to follow suit.
From Thursday, ACT residents who wish to access abortion healthcare will be able to do so without charge, regardless of whether they have a Medicare card.
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Continue reading...Lawmakers from New York, Minnesota and Wisconsin decry the ruling, now on hold by supreme court until at least 19 April
Top Democratic senators across the US are pushing back after a federal judge in Texas decided to block the FDA-approved abortion drug mifepristone.
On Sunday, the New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand criticized as an “outrage” Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision, which is currently halted until at least Wednesday 19 April by the supreme court.
Continue reading...The right has, for decades, relied on abortion to rally their conservative base, but now their unified policy is flagging
Democrats have taken multiple actions in response to what they say is a “draconian” and “dangerous” decision by a federal judge in Texas threatening access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the US.
Several Democratic governors have begun to stockpile doses of the drugs used in medication abortions. Nearly every Democrat in Congress signed onto an amicus brief urging an appeals court to stay the decision, while some called on the Biden administration to simply “ignore” the ruling, should it be allowed to stand. A group of House Democrats introduced a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) final approval over drugs used in medication abortion.
Continue reading...Temporary pause on lower court rulings gives court additional time to consider a longer stay
Danco Laboratories has said that they will continue to distribute the abortion pill, according to an email from the company.
Reuters reported that the company emailed a statement confirming that they will still continue to dispense Mifeprex to its customers.
Continue reading...Limits slated to go into effect at 12.01am Saturday following lower court’s order revoking the FDA’s approval of mifepristone
The Biden administration appealed to the US supreme court on Friday asking it to halt an appellate ruling that adds onerous restrictions to a key abortion drug. The restrictions were slated to go into effect at 12.01am on Saturday morning.
The ruling at the center of the emergency application to the high court was issued on Wednesday night by the fifth circuit court of appeals. The US Department of Justice had asked the appeals court to block a lower court order revoking the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone in 2000.
Continue reading...Bill gives governor key political victory ahead of expected presidential campaign
The Republican-dominated Florida legislature on Thursday approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal supported by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, as he prepares for an expected presidential run.
DeSantis, a Republican, later signed the bill into law. “We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” he said in a statement. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.
Continue reading...Lawsuit claims former fixer breached attorney-client privilege and unjustly enriched himself, among other allegations
Tennessee’s neighbor Kentucky is having its own reckoning with gun violence after a mass shooting in Louisville on Monday left five people dead.
But as the Washington Post reports, the partisan divide over what to do about these repeated acts of violence is as wide as ever in the solidly Republican state. The Post tuned into public events held by two freshman House representatives from the state, one the sole Democrat in its delegation, the other a Republican.
Continue reading...Mifepristone will lose its FDA approval this week unless an appeals court intervenes in a case likely to reach the supreme court
FDA authorization for a key abortion drug could be nullified after Friday, unless an appeals court acts on a Biden administration request to block last week’s ruling suspending approval of the drug.
The drug, mifepristone, is used in more than half of all the abortions in the US. The ruling, issued by a federal judge in Texas, applies across the country.
Continue reading...Judiciary committee will review supreme court justice’s undeclared luxury travel with Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow
Donald Trump is trying to prevent his former vice-president, Mike Pence, from testifying to the grand jury investigating the January 6 insurrection, NBC News reports:
Earlier this month, Pence decided to drop his legal challenge to the subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating the insurrection at the Capitol in addition to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the classified documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago.
Continue reading...Justice department calls decision ‘especially unwarranted’ because it undermines the FDA’s scientific judgment
The US government on Monday appealed a Texas judge’s decision to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of a key abortion drug, saying the ruling endangered women’s health by blocking access to a pill long deemed safe.
In a filing with the 5th US circuit court of appeals, the Department of Justice (DoJ) called judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision on the drug mifepristone “especially unwarranted” because it would undermine the FDA’s scientific judgment and harm women for whom the drug is medically necessary.
Continue reading...Underfunded services resulting in more women choosing cheaper at-home abortion pill, study finds
Overstretched and underfunded abortion services in England and Wales are leaving women feeling pressured into opting for the cheaper at-home pill rather than a surgical procedure, according to research.
The proportion of medical abortions – using pills – rose from 47% in 2011 to 87% in 2021, while very few abortions are now administered surgically, finds research from the London School of Economics.
Continue reading...Democrats including Senate majority leader warn of ‘dangerous new precedent’ set by ruling and vow to fight it
Democratic lawmakers are doubling down on outrage against Friday’s ruling that threatens access to a widely used abortion medication, saying the ruling sets a “dangerous new precedent” that could harm future medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
“Make no mistake, the decision could throw our country into chaos,” said the Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on a call with reporters on Saturday. “Republicans have completely eviscerated the FDA as we know it and threatened the ability of any drug on the market to avoid being prohibited.
Continue reading...Party members call on Biden to do more to protect reproductive rights amid conflicting judicial rulings on mifepristone
Democrats angrily denounced as “dangerous” and “draconian” a decision by a Texas judge that threatens access to a widely used abortion medication, while demanding the Joe Biden White House do more to protect reproductive rights.
Nearly a quarter-century after the Food and Drug Administration approved the abortion pill mifepristone, the federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on Friday sought to invalidate the agency’s decision, handing down an unprecedented order that – if upheld – would severely restrict access to one of the most commonly used methods of terminating a pregnancy.
Continue reading...Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a ruling on Friday aiming to suspend the FDA’s approval of abortion drug mifepristone
Texas-based federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on Friday issued a ruling aiming to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, a common abortion drug approved for use 23 years ago that has been consistently found to be safe and effective.
It is widely believed that the anti-abortion groups who brought the case challenging the FDA’s authorization of the drug did so in Amarillo, Texas, so that it would be certain to land on the desk of this particular judge. Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by Donald Trump, is known for disregarding precedent and for weighing in on the far-right side of culture war issues.
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