Johns Hopkins Statement on Ruling on Abortion Pill is “Devastating And Unprecedented”

Suzanne Bell, an assistant professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, made this statement regarding the ruling from Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, TX, that suspends the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, which could deny women in all 50 states – even where abortion rights are protected – access to the abortion pill. “The Texas ruling on mifepristone is devastating and unprecedented, and it is a clear example of political ideology interfering with well-established science… This will not stop medication abortions from occurring in the U.S., it will simply force healthcare providers to rely on the misoprostol-only regimen, which, while still very safe, is somewhat less effective and causes more uncomfortable side effects…”