Federal and state authorities are taking a two-pronged approach to making abortion more difficult

Anti-abortion conservatives He owns He has long sought power Planned Parenthood clinics are closing their doors and making it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain abortion pills as part of a two-pronged approach to reduce access to abortion.

First, to undermine Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers by questioning their credibility and Prevent their financing. second, Try banning mifepristone – medicine It is used in more than half of miscarriages -Partly by saying it’s unsafe.

Like law professors who Teaching courses on health, Poverty law and reproductive rightsWe are closely monitoring what happens with both strategies. We are particularly interested in how it impacts Women’s health careNow that Each state can write its own abortion laws.

Attacking Planned Parenthood

Opponents of abortion rights are Attacking Planned Parenthood Because Clinics perform hundreds Thousands of miscarriages, in addition to more 9 million other proceduresevery year.

For example, it screens patients for cancer, provides contraceptive care, tests people for sexually transmitted diseases, performs pregnancy tests and provides prenatal services. Abortion is just a calculation 4% of all family planning services.

Conservative-led states are targeting the nonprofit through lawsuits and legislation.

For example, attorneys general in Missouri and Florida allege in lawsuits filed in 2025 that Planned Parenthood Site “lies” about safety Of mifepristone.

Planned Parenthood is not the only nonprofit accused of deceiving the public in this way. In December 2025, Attorney General of South Dakota File a lawsuit against Mayday Healtha non-profit reproductive health education organization, alleging that its ads in South Dakota violated a state law prohibiting “Deceptive practices“.

In late January, after Mayday filed a countersuit in federal court in New York, that court South Dakota’s actions were temporarily blocked.

Other countries are taking similar steps. Kentucky which Like South Dakotahe has An almost complete ban on abortionand investigates the legality Advertisements published by Mayday Health at gas stations. Advertisements tell women how they can get help getting an abortion.

Undermining finance

Meanwhile, state and federal efforts to reduce Planned Parenthood funding are making progress.

In June 2025, the US Supreme Court ruled Medina Against Planned Parenthood in the South Atlantic In favor of South Carolina’s attempt to prevent its Medicaid program from reimbursing Planned Parenthood for health care services. This decision made clear that any state may deny Medicaid funding for care provided by organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, that perform abortions.

Medicaid, the US government’s health insurance program Primarily covers low-income peopleIt is jointly funded by the federal and state governments. on 1 in 10 women of childbearing age Those who received family planning services and were enrolled in Medicaid relied on family planning services in 2021.

Under what Known as the Hyde AmendmentFederal Medicaid dollars may not be used to pay for abortions except in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest. States are free to use their Medicaid funds to pay for abortions; And some do.

Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, Congress passed the measure Ban federal Medicaid dollars From going to any clinics that perform abortions – such as Planned Parenthood.

This provision, which prohibits reimbursement for all services, including those unrelated to abortion, existed Taxes and big spending The package was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. The defunding measure went into effect immediately, For one yearIt applies to all parts of the country.

The ruling is supposed to end In July 2026.

This is partly due to the financial strain caused by the measure, Planned Parenthood says Dozens of its clinics across the country will close their doors in 2025.

Planned Parenthoodas well as 22 states and Washington, D.C., challenged this ruling in two cases before a federal court in Massachusetts.

The court granted Planned Parenthood’s request Her case was dismissed In January 2026. The other case, brought by states and local governments in Washington, D.C., Still pending.

Attempt to discredit the safety of mifepristone

Efforts to classify mifepristone as a dangerous drug began before the FDA It was approved for use in 2000. Abortion opponents have intensified that campaign since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Dobbs ruled against Women’s Health Jackson in 2022.

In the same year, A group of doctors and medical associations Abortion opponents have challenged the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone and the guidelines governing its prescription.

In essence, they claimed that there was insufficient evidence to prove the drug’s safety, despite it having been used before Millions of people for over 20 years. Several prominent medical societies, citing hundreds of peer-reviewed clinical studies and decades of evidence-based research, assert that the drug “Absolutely safe“.

Several studies have found that mifepristone is As safe as ibuprofen and safer than Viagra.

finally, The Supreme Court rejected the case Because doctors had no status. This meant that doctors could not prove that they experienced any clear, tangible harms from the FDA’s actions that made mifepristone more widely available.

Arguing that the Food and Drug Administration made a mistake

But in 2024, The state governments of Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho They were allowed to join the lawsuit, after they objected They had status.

the Three countries He similarly claimed that the FDA acted improperly in 2016 as well as later, when it relaxed regulations related to mifepristone, including allowing its use. Prescribed via telehealth or mailed to patients.

As their case makes its way through the courts, other states are questioning the FDA’s handling of the drug.

In late 2024, Louisiana Classification of abortion pills as controlled substancesand their use is more tightly restricted by the Food and Drug Administration. In October 2025, the state went further, challenging relaxed FDA regulations, including rescinding them Requirements for dispensing birth control pills in person.

In early December, Florida and Texas filed a lawsuit against the FDA. These states argue that their approval and regulation of mifepristone violates several federal laws, including one that states: Gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate drugs.

Reconsider safety results

There are also regulatory threats to the availability of mifepristone as the Trump administration reconsiders evidence regarding the drug’s safety.

In September 2025, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the FDA would conduct “Its own review of the evidenceincluding “real-world findings and evidence for the drug, regarding safety and effectiveness.”

Kennedy He pointed to a report It was cited by 22 Republican state attorneys general, which, according to Kennedy, points out “the potential risks that may accompany providing mifepristone without adequate medical support or supervision.”

The report has not been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal. Many experts describe it as “Junk science“.

If the FDA finds mifepristone unsafe or imposes further restrictions on how it is prescribed, it could make it more difficult to obtain an abortion. While misoprostol, which is It is usually prescribed for the prevention of ulcersIt can be used alone in abortions, as it is less effective and less safe than when it is Used in combination with mifepristone.

What happens next may take some time. Some efforts to end access to mifepristone appear to be on hold – for political rather than legal reasons.

FDA Commissioner Marty McCurry He told his agency officials in December 2025 to postpone their review of data on the safety of mifepristone “until after the midterm elections” in November 2026.