Medication abortion, also known as medical abortion or abortion with pills, has been FDA-approved as safe and effective since 2000 for the termination of pregnancies through the first 10 weeks. Its use in the United States has grown in recently years and now it accounts for just over half of all abortions , yet a majority of adults and women between ages 18-49 have not heard of it.

The June 24^th Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade eliminated the federal standard protecting the right to abortion. The outcome of the decision: roughly half the states are expected to ban or severely restrict abortion, resulting in a patchwork of abortion laws that differ widely state to state. Given that medication abortion can now be provided via telehealth and many will seek the pills through websites and online pharmacies, there are big questions regarding how accessible medication abortion will be and its regulation at both the state and federal level.

On Wednesday, July 20^th, a panel of experts joined series moderator Larry Levitt in a 45-minute discussion about the use and safety of medication abortion and the current and future policy and practical challenges for accessing it across the country.

This was the fourth installment of KFF’s virtual conversation series, The Health Wonk Shop. The series features conversations with experts, diving into timely health policy issues for a deeper discussion beyond the news headlines and taking questions from viewers over Zoom.

Moderator

• Larry Levitt, Executive Vice President for Health Policy, KFF

Panelists

• Laurie Sobel, Associate Director of Women’s Health Policy, KFF
• Jamila Perritt, MD, President & CEO, Physicians for Reproductive Health
• Daniel Grossman, MD, Professor and Director of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, UCSF
• Francine Coeytaux, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Plan C Pills