Abortion Pill Effective for Treating Fibroids, But Anti-Abortion Politics Stymie Access

(FUCK THIS woman-hating, life-threatening BULLSHIT)


Abortion Pill Effective for Treating Fibroids, But Anti-Abortion Politics Stymie Access
7/26/2021 by Carrie N. Baker
FDA restrictions make mifepristone—one of two medications used to end early pregnancy—hard to access for off-label use and drug companies have declined to develop mifepristone for other uses. As a result, this critical medicine remains hostage to anti-abortion politics, and women’s health has suffered.



Mifepristone is a non-surgical alternative for treating fibroids and possibly endometriosis as well, with the potential to reduce unnecessary hysterectomies. (Public Domain)

In 2000, the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone for abortion during the first seven weeks of pregnancy, later extending allowable use to ten weeks in 2016. While widely known as an abortion pill, mifepristone is very effective for treating fibroids and may also be effective for treating endometriosis and depression. Yet the drug is not available to use for these serious conditions because the FDA tightly restricts the medication due to intense anti-abortion pressure. The politicization around mifepristone has made research on its usefulness in treating these conditions difficult to conduct, preventing its development for treatments that could significantly enhance women’s health.

The FDA restricts mifepristone in a drug safety program called the Risk and Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (REMS). Despite unequivocal evidence of its safety and efficacy, the FDA REMS blocks pharmacies from distributing the medication and requires medical providers to register with the drug manufacturer and dispense the pills themselves directly to their patients in person. These restrictions have limited availability of this medication for research and off-label uses for other conditions. But that may soon change. The Biden administration recently lifted the in-person distribution requirement for the duration of the public health emergency in order to protect against the spread of COVID-19, and the FDA is now reviewing the necessity of its restrictions on mifepristone. While the focus is on the safety of using mifepristone for abortion, lifting the FDA restrictions would free up the drug for development and use in treating fibroids and possibly other conditions.

Extensive research has shown that mifepristone is an effective treatment for fibroid tumors—which are noncancerous growths of the uterus that often appear during childbearing years. This common condition, afflicting 26 million women in the U.S., can cause heavy periods, severe pain and difficulty conceiving. Fibroids are often treated with surgery to remove the fibroids or even hysterectomies—removal of the uterus. Approximately 600,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the United States, which the National Women’s Health Networks contends are often unnecessary and put women’s health at needless risk. Some research suggests that mifepristone may also be helpful in treating endometriosis, where tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus—called the endometrium—grows outside the uterus. Endometriosis afflicts an estimated 10 percent of reproductive-age women. Common treatments include laparoscopic surgery—involving the cutting and removing endometrial tissue or destroying it with a laser beam or electric current—and hysterectomies.


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But the drug is not available for any further uses—including for fibroids—despite strong evidence that the medication is effective for treating this condition. The FDA REMS make the drug hard to obtain for research and drug companies have declined to develop the drug for the treatment of any other diseases. As a result, this critical medicine remains hostage to anti-abortion politics, and women’s health has suffered. More than 40 years after the development of mifepristone, this medication is still not yet “the moral property of women.” The FDA’s current reconsideration of its restrictions on mifepristone is an opportunity for the agency to finally value women’s health and lives over anti-abortion politics. The FDA should not only make this important medication widely available for abortion but also open the door for research and development of mifepristone for other life- and health-saving treatments for women it might provide.

https://msmagazine.com/2021/07/26/mifepristone-abortion-pill-fibroids-endometriosis-depression-fda-rems-biden/