Last month, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld Idaho’s abortion bansafter they went into effect in August 2022. Now, there are no built-in exceptions that allow for legal abortions in the state, though there are limited defenses known as “affirmative defenses” in the case of rape or incest, or if the pregnant person’s life is at risk.
Now, more people than ever are turning to medication abortions. Medication abortions are nonsurgical, and are performed by prescribing pills that a patient can take at home during early pregnancy. Even before the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in June 2022, abortion pills accounted for over half of all abortions in the U.S.
Those pills are also under legal examination on a federal level, and are taking center stage as the next target of the anti-abortion movement. But as of now, the U.S. Postal Service is still allowed to deliver mail-order abortion medications, even to states where abortions are illegal.
Idaho Abortion Rights offers financial assistance and education for all things abortion across the state. (@idahoabortionrights / Instagram)
So what are abortion pills? The medications are typically taken in one of two regimens: either misoprostol by itself, or mifepristone, followed by misoprostol. Note: they are not “Plan B,” or any other form of contraceptive.
Mifepristone stops the maintenance of a pregnancy, and misoprostol is then used to induce uterine contractions and sheds the lining of the uterus, and the pregnancy with it. Misoprostol is commonly used to induce labor or facilitate medical miscarriages as well.
In 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone for early abortions, up to eleven weeks. Since then, abortion pills have become more common. Data continues to show that abortion pills have a complication rate of only 2.2 per 1,000 people, and are also highly effective.
The mutual aid collective Idaho Abortion Rights advocates and educates for abortion access, including abortion pills.
Legally, abortion pills are in a murky situation for Idahoans. While it’s still legal to order and possess abortion pills, Idaho pharmacists can’t fill a prescription for them, and Idaho physicians can’t prescribe them for abortions. That's why anti-abortion activists and politicians will likely continue to push for the shipping of these medications to be illegal, cutting off the messenger.
