COLUMBUS – Doctors, clinics and telehealth providers in Ohio and across the country are scrambling to figure out how they will continue to provide the most common type of abortion after a federal appeals court imposed new restrictions on a key abortion medication.
The late Wednesday decision narrowed a Texas court judge’s effort to block the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone. It allows patients to keep using the drug, but only at a higher dosage and if patients are seven weeks pregnant or fewer.
The decision also prohibits the medication from being sent by mail and requires people to have three in-person visits with their doctor to take the pills.
The Department of Justice plans to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abortion providers and patient advocates said the restrictions imposed by the court could affect thousands of people if they go into effect on Saturday.
Some abortion clinics in Ohio may stop dispensing mifepristone entirely by then, said Jessie Hill, an attorney who represents several independent clinics in the state.
State law requires doctors to follow federal label guidelines when prescribing mifepristone, which means clinics will have to follow the court’s order. The order will “make it incredibly inconvenient,” to prescribe mifepristone, she said, because patients will have to make three in-person doctor’s visits and pay more for a higher dosage.
The clinics are also considering a one-drug regimen that uses misoprostol, a medication not challenged in the courts but considered slightly less effective.
Mifepristone, approved by the FDA in 2000, blocks the hormone progesterone and is also used to treat miscarriages.
Millions of women around the world have used the drug, and medical groups say complications occur at a lower rate than with routine medical procedures such as wisdom teeth removal and colonoscopies.