There was a restriction on access to abortion pills. Patients will be able to receive their medication by mail instead of having to go to a health provider.
The Supreme Court is considering whether to roll back abortion rights or even overturn its landmark 1973 decision that made abortion legal nationwide.
The F.D.A.'s action means that medication abortion, an increasingly common method authorized in the United States for pregnancies up to 10 weeks' gestation, will become more available to women who find it difficult to travel to an abortion provider or prefer to end a pregnancies in the privacy It allows patients to have an appointment with a provider who can prescribe abortion pills and send them to the patient by mail.
The F.D.A. temporarily lifted the requirement for in-person consultation on the first of two drugs used to end pregnancies. The decision to make this change permanent is likely to deepen the already divisive divisions between conservative and liberal states. In 19 states, mostly in the South and the Midwest, it is illegal to use a computer to access abortion services.
California and New York, which have taken steps to further solidify abortion rights, are expected to increase the availability of the method and provide opportunities for women in states with restrictions to obtain abortion pills by traveling to a state that allows them.
Mary Ziegler is a law professor at Florida State University. Telehealth abortions are much easier for both providers and patients, and even in states that want to do it, there have been limits on how available it is.
In anticipation of such a decision, six states banned the mailing of pills, seven states passed laws requiring pills to be obtained in person from a provider, and four states set a limit on the number of pills a woman can take.
Women who live in states that don't allow abortion using technology must travel to a state that does, although they don't have to visit a clinic. They may be in any location within that state for their visit, even a car, and they can get the pills at any address in the state.
Legal experts said they expected supporters of abortion rights to try to find ways to make the pills available without requiring a patient to travel.
In the most recent year for which data is available, 42 percent of all abortions occurred with medication, and 54 percent of them occurred before 10 weeks. California, Maryland and New Hampshire are not included in the report.
The method accounts for a majority of abortions in Indiana, Kansas and Minnesota in 2020, according to state health department reports.
The C.D.C. reported that 80% of all abortions occurred before 10 weeks' gestation, suggesting that many more women would choose abortion pills over in-clinic procedures.
The United States approved medication abortion in 2000. The F.D.A. imposed restrictions on the first drug, Mifepristone, requiring that it be given in clinics or hospitals by specially certified providers, who must sign a specific agreement and get the patient's signature on a form acknowledging that their provider has informed them about the The only drug that the agency required patients to obtain in person from a medical provider, but were not required to take under medical supervision, was made possible by the rules because patients were allowed to take it in their homes or anywhere they chose.
The second drug, called misoprostol, can be obtained with a regular prescription at a pharmacy.
The government has been urged to ease restrictions on the drug by medical organizations and abortion rights groups.
A research program that the F.D.A. allowed to run between May 2016 and September 2020 resulted in 95 percent of the 1,157 abortions being completed without any follow-up. Patients made 70 visits to emergency rooms and 10 of them had serious consequences.
