ACOG Leads 20 Medical Societies in Urging Supreme Court to Follow Science, Reinstate Telehealth Access to Mifepristone

Washington, D.C.-The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) led 20 medical organizations in filing an amicus brief late yesterday urging the Supreme Court to stay or vacate the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's decision reinstating the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone. AGOG's brief asks the court to follow the overwhelming body of medical evidence proving that mifepristone is safe and effective whether dispensed in-person or prescribed through telehealth and dispensed by mail.

"ACOG's members care for patients each day who need access to mifepristone. ACOG members and our colleagues across medical specialties who join us in this brief to the court believe that all patients are entitled to timely, complete, and unbiased health care that is medically and scientifically sound. The substantial body of real-world data and research, including data from the COVID-19 pandemic, proves that mifepristone is safe and effective regardless of whether it is dispensed in person," said Camille A. Clare, MD, MPH, CPE, FACOG, president of ACOG.

The amicus brief emphasizes the safety of mifepristone, citing extensive clinical evidence, scientific research, and data. It also explains that mifepristone's availability by telehealth is vitally important to the provision of more equitable reproductive health care.

"For more than a quarter century, FDA has actively monitored and studied the safety of mifepristone. The results are clear: mifepristone's compelling safety profile remains strong and stable regardless of where patients fill their prescriptions-and the option of mail and pharmacy dispensing enables practitioners to provide safe, medically appropriate, and effective care to the many patients that face barriers to access to basic reproductive health care, including miscarriage management," the brief said.

"The ability to dispense mifepristone by telehealth has been a much-needed advancement in addressing real barriers that prevent people from accessing evidence-based reproductive health care. Reinstating the in-person dispensing requirement would only worsen those unnecessary barriers to care and exacerbate subsequent health inequities," said Dr. Clare.

The brief noted that the Fifth Circuit Court's decision wholly discounted the two decades of overwhelming evidence proving that mifepristone is safe and effective. The court also distorted the procedural history that led the FDA to remove the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone in order to impose a nationwide return to in-person dispensation of mifepristone, affecting access in states across the country.

Specifically, the brief states: "Based on its distorted view of the scientific evidence and FDA actions, the Fifth Circuit ordered a nationwide return to mandatory, in-person dispensing of mifepristone-severely limiting access to mifepristone and denying medically appropriate and legal care to patients across the country .... These restrictions would worsen racial and economic inequities and deprive patients of choices that are at the very core of individual autonomy and well-being."

ACOG is joined in the amicus brief by the following organizations: the American Medical Association, the Society of Family Planning, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the American Academy of Nursing, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine, the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, the American Medical Women's Association, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Council of University Chairs of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology, the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the Society of General Internal Medicine, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, and the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons.

Read the amicus brief now.