The abortion pill is the standard way to terminate pregnancy in the U.S., CDC stated

November 28, 2022: The abortion pill is the most used way to terminate a pregnancy in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated.

In a report published Wednesday, the CDC found that nearly 51% of abortions in 2020 were done with the pill at or before the second month of the pregnancy. From 2019 to 2020, abortions consuming the drug increased by 22%, the report stated.

The pill, mifepristone, is the flashpoint in the battle regarding reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s talk to abolish federal abortion rights. Twelve states have held restricted abortion since then, but banning the pill is problematic because it has become more comfortable.

In reply to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration stopped requiring women to consume mifepristone in person, which permits them to receive the pill at retail pharmacies. The drug agency reported in December 2021 that makes this change is permanent.

Anti-abortion groups in the previous week asked a federal court in Texas to make the FDA’s over-two-decade-old approval of mifepristone. The teams’ attorneys are from the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case leading the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and eight additional senators asked the FDA in a letter in the previous week to expand access to mifepristone by approving its usage for miscarriage management. The senators wrote that this would grow women’s reach to the pill in states that are stopping the pass.

The FDA has approved mifepristone with the tablet misoprostol to terminate pregnancies before the 10th week. The way is 96% to 98% effective in completing early pregnancies. Mifepristone saves the pregnancy to keep going, and misoprostol causes contractions that empty the uterus.

The abortion pill has been an increasingly common way to finish pregnancy in the U.S.

Abortions with the pill grew 154% from 2011 to 2020, according to CDC data.

Over 620,000 abortions were done in the U.S. in 2020, a 15% decline since 2011. Almost all abortions, 93%, are performed before the 13th week of pregnancy, and 80% are completed in the ninth week, according to the CDC data.

Abortions are the second most crucial method to end a pregnancy. About 40% of abortions were done with surgical procedures at the 13th week of pregnancy, according to the CDC.