SEATTLE, WA – Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, along with 16 other states and the District of Columbia, has petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove what the coalition describes as burdensome restrictions on mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions. Medication abortion is the most common method of abortion in the United States.
The coalition submitted a filing providing evidence on the safety of medication abortion in their states and highlighting the barriers created by the FDA’s current restrictions. The filing supplements a citizen petition submitted by Massachusetts, California, New Jersey, and New York on June 5, urging the FDA to eliminate unnecessary requirements that make access to medication abortion more difficult, especially in rural and medically underserved areas.
“Mifepristone has been safely used by millions of women in this country over the last 25 years,” Brown said. “In a post-Dobbs world, we should be removing unnecessary barriers to reproductive health care in states that protect abortion so people have the freedom to plan when and whether to have a family.”
The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000. Combined with misoprostol, it is the only FDA-approved regimen for ending an early pregnancy. The safety and efficacy of medication abortion have been documented in hundreds of scientific studies, and more than 7.5 million women in the U.S. have used mifepristone for abortion or miscarriage management.
Data from the Washington State Department of Health show that of nearly 30,000 medication abortions provided in Washington in 2023 and 2024, the vast majority had no complications, with fewer than 0.2% resulting in complications severe enough to require hospitalization.
The FDA currently requires that providers be registered to prescribe mifepristone, that pharmacies obtain special certification to dispense it, and that patients sign a form agreeing to terminate their pregnancy before receiving a prescription. The petition argues that these requirements are not necessary given the drug’s long safety record and reduce patient access to medication abortion, particularly in rural areas.
Physicians in Washington state report that the registration requirement leaves providers feeling vulnerable to attacks by anti-abortion activists, discouraging some from offering the medication.
The petition requests that the FDA remove these restrictions nationwide or, alternatively, stop enforcing them in states like Washington that have their own regulatory frameworks to ensure patient safety.
Washington’s filing was handled by Assistant Attorney General Lauryn Fraas, Wing Luke Civil Rights Division Chief Colleen Melody, Deputy Solicitor General Tera Heintz, and paralegals Jennah Williams and Nicole Beck-Thorne.
The petition was submitted in collaboration with the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, as well as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
