Supreme Court Capitulates to Trump, Reinstates Abortion Pill Restrictions
Decision cuts off abortion access for rural communities as pandemic ragesJanuary 12, 2021
Rachel Waters
rwaters@urge.org
706-831-1667
(Washington, DC) — Statement from Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to lift an injunction that prevented the Trump administration from enforcing a rule to require people seeking medication abortion to see their healthcare provider in-person before being given mifepristone, a safe and effective pill used by 40 percent of people seeking an abortion.
“This decision will force people seeking abortion into difficult requirements that aren’t backed by science and that block people from needed care,” said Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity. “People are already trying to survive a pandemic, struggling financially, and in many cases getting to a clinic is difficult or impossible. There’s no good reason to hold the abortion pill hostage to an in-person visit that can just as easily be accomplished through telemedicine. This will be especially harmful for rural Black and Indigenous communities who have limited transportation and who rely on telemedicine for their abortion care.
“Reinstating harsh and needless restrictions on the abortion pill is a harbinger of the anti-abortion, anti-science, and misogynist rulings we can expect from the new court and Trump-installed Justice Amy Coney Barrett.”
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About URGE:
URGE envisions a liberated world where we can live with justice, love freely, express our gender and sexuality, and define and create families of our choosing. To achieve our vision of liberation, URGE builds power and sustains a young people’s movement for reproductive justice by centering the leadership of young people of color who are women, queer, trans, nonbinary, and people of low-income. As a state-driven national organization, URGE organizes our communities, provides a political home for young people, advocates for meaningful policy change, and shifts culture, working in states where the challenges and opportunities are greatest
