NAF marks mifepristone’s 15 anniversary
Statement of Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF):
September 28 marks the 15th anniversary of the approval of mifepristone. Since this approval, more than 2 million women in the United States have chosen medical abortion care to safely terminate an early pregnancy.
Mifepristone has given women another option, and we’ve heard from women who appreciated being able to make this choice. Women like:
Sandy,* a single mother who chose to obtain an abortion after a condom failed. She was a full-time student carrying a 3.7 GPA and knew she couldn’t handle another child. Sandy said “having a medical abortion and being in the comfort of my own home just confirmed that I had made the right decision for us all. I can’t tell you the relief I felt when all was said and done and I was still healthy and my beautiful son still happy.”
Sera* who found out she was five weeks pregnant while sick with persistent pneumonia. Her lungs were at risk of collapsing, and she had also taken antibiotics known to cause birth defects. Her mother was dying of bone cancer at the time, and Sera knew she couldn’t help take care of her mother and an infant. She was working two jobs and enrolled full-time in college. Sera and her fiancé agreed that abortion was the best option, and she chose a medical abortion, partly so she would be able to rest at home during the process. It has been over five years since her procedure and today Sera says, “I love my life and do not regret my decision.”
Today, as we celebrate this important milestone in women’s reproductive health care, we are reminded that there is more work to be done. In the last 15 years, abortion opponents have targeted medical abortion care and passed medically unnecessary restrictions, which have limited women’s access to safe medical abortion care. This is part of a coordinated strategy to ban abortion, and we must keep fighting to ensure women can access the abortion care they need.
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*Name changed to protect patient privacy.
The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is the professional association of abortion providers. Our members include individuals, private and non-profit clinics, Planned Parenthood affiliates, women’s health centers, physicians’ offices, and hospitals who together care for approximately half the women who choose abortion in the U.S. and Canada each year. Our members also include public hospitals and both public and private clinics in Mexico City and private clinics in Colombia.