The next battleground over abortion rights won’t be in front of abortion clinics but in the homes of women seeking to end unwanted pregnancies. Legislative efforts around the country seek to clamp down on home-administered, medication-induced abortions, an issue that generally didn’t exist in the days before Roe v. Wade was first decided in 1973. Anti-choice forces are floating ideas — including crackdowns on transport of medications and even attempts to outlaw information from pro-choice advocates — that stray well outside the abortion debate into areas of interstate commerce and the First Amendment.
The overturn of Roe this year in no way limits the federal government from reinforcing these and other rights against those who would erode them in their zeal to control women everywhere. Even in their own homes.
In the almost 50 years since U.S. states were last allowed to outlaw abortion at will, much has changed regarding abortion services. Contrary to the disinformation campaigns of the right, most abortions are performed early in pregnancies, and the most common (and safest) method of early-pregnancy abortion today is medical inducement. The Food and Drug Administration in 2000 approved the drug mifepristone to end pregnancies in the first 10 weeks, generally in conjunction with a second drug, misoprostol. The two drugs are used in more than half of all abortions.
