Cleveland among 45 cities backing Mifepristone access
By Sam Allard
On May 2, 2023
Cleveland is among 45 local governments that filed an appellate court brief Monday calling for access to Mifepristone, a medication used in terminating early-stage pregnancies.
Driving the news: The brief outlined the heightened health and financial costs low-income and medically underserved residents would face if the drug is banned.
- “Pregnant people will undergo invasive procedural abortion, will delay abortion care, terminate their pregnancies using alternative means that present additional risks … or may be forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will,” the brief reads.
Catch up quick: On April 21, the U.S. Supreme Court halted a Texas district court’s ruling that blocked the FDA’s approval of the drug.
- The decision used anti-abortion rights rhetoric to argue that medication abortion has a “negative impact” and that the agency’s safety data on the pill is “potentially misleading,” Axios’ Oriana González reports.
By the numbers: Mifepristone is part of a two-drug regimen used in medication abortion, which accounts for 53% of abortions in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
What’s next: The Fifth Circuit has scheduled a hearing for May 17. Access to Mifepristone will not change while the litigation proceeds.
Zoom in: Cleveland’s participation in the brief is the latest effort by Mayor Justin Bibb to promote pro-abortion rights policy in the wake of last year’s Dobbs decision.
- Bibb signed an executive order declaring that Cleveland would not prosecute abortion cases and created a $100,000 “reproductive freedom fund” for Cleveland residents seeking abortion care out of state.
At a weekend event in Larchmere, Bibb signed the petition to place a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights on Ohio’s 2023 General Election ballot.
What they’re saying: “This is a fight we can’t afford to lose,” he said.
- “Denying access to reproductive health care will put women at risk, especially Black women, who are two to three times more likely to die of a pregnancy-related cause.”
The other side: As volunteers circulate petitions, Republicans at the Ohio Statehouse have greenlighted an August election to vote on a controversial measure that, if passed, would make it harder to amend the constitution.
- Ohio Right to Life and Protect Women Ohio have called the amendment a “direct assault on parental rights.”
This piece was republished from Axios.