MILWAUKEE — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week made abortion pills available to more pharmacies and for mail order, but the new access does not extend to Wisconsin.
Michelle Velasquez with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin called the move a “game-changer on the national level” but said she does not see the changes needed to expand access for Wisconsinites happening.
Whether the state’s 1849 abortion ban is enforceable or not, she said, is still unclear. Even if it’s repealed, other state laws from before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case that overturned the abortion protections from the landmark Roe v. Wade case would still present roadblocks.
“(They) prohibit the use of telemedicine for medication abortion, as well as the use of brick-and-mortar pharmacies or mail-order pharmacies,” Velasquez said.
State laws also require a doctor to be in the room when a woman is given abortion medication and require a patient to wait 24 hours before an abortion.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, researchers who support abortion rights, more than half of abortions in the United States are now performed with pills rather than surgeries.
A Wisconsin doctor would not be able to prescribe mifepristone, which is used for miscarriage management, for an abortion, Velasquez said.
“Essentially doing so would put that practitioner at risk of being prosecuted,” she said.
Still, Planned Parenthood said the FDA’s decision is an important step for abortion access and signals how safe and effective the medication is.
“(It) calls into question whether or not some of the statutes that we have on our books… related to medication abortion, pills, prescribing and dispensing are really medically necessary,” Velasquez said.
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