Mifepristone and Human Rights

Banning mifepristone puts the lives of pregnant people in danger and violates their human rights, making it a very poor policy choice. The WHO, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child have condemned abortion restrictions. The U.N. Human Rights Committee, the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the U.N. Committee against Torture have called for “the removal of penalties for abortion and for the implementation of measures to ensure safe, legal access to abortion.”

Banning mifepristone will do little to decrease the number of abortions overall, as research shows repeatedly. It would, however, make abortion more expensive, increase travel burdens and delay care to later gestational ages. This would compound other burdens imposed by various states, such as mandatory waiting periods and forced ultrasounds that serve no medical purpose and are designed to make pregnant people less likely to get an abortion. Although these burdens exist for all who seek abortions, they are especially burdensome for Black, brown and Indigenous individuals, for those who live in rural areas and for many immigrant populations.

Read the full piece, written with Susan Ostermann and Tamara Kay, in the Chicago Tribune or the Seattle Times