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    Restrictions On Abortion Medication Deserve A Second Look, Says A Former FDA Head

    The FDA heavily restricted mifepristone — a drug that ends early pregnancies — when it approved it 19 years ago. A former FDA commissioner asks whether the current restrictions should be revisited.
    by Luisa Torres Aug 20, 2019 4 minutes
    Mifepristone is a medication used to end early pregnancies and to relieve the symptoms of miscarriage. It's heavily restricted by the FDA.

    Mifepristone is one of a regimen of two drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to end an early pregnancy. It's also prescribed to help reduce the severity of miscarriage symptoms. But it is heavily regulated in ways that can make it hard for women to obtain. Along with its approval in 2000, the FDA restricted its use because of safety concerns.

    In a perspective article published this summer in the New England Journal of Medicine, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Jane Henney and co-author Dr. Helene Gayle argue that the agency should reevaluate whether such measures are still necessary and take into consideration recent studies that show mifepristone is both effective and safe.

    Henney, who was FDA commissioner when. This program includes drugs such as antipsychotic medications and narcotics. Mifepristone is one of the most restricted of all drugs in the REMS program, Henney says.

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