The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii on behalf of a Hawaii doctor and three healthcare groups. The suit seeks to overturn the regulations – collectively known as Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy – that prevent the abortion pill Mifeprex® (RU486) from being sold at retail pharmacies.
Patients currently can purchase the prescribed abortifacient at clinics, medical offices, or hospitals. But the ACLU attorneys argue their clients want their prescription available in pharmacies.
Dr. Gene Rudd of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations contends the current regulations make sense.
Rudd "If anyone in healthcare can prescribe these pills," Rudd wonders, "where does a woman go when she's in trouble? Does she go back to a pharmacy – or does she go to a primary care doctor who wrote the prescription but isn't trained or equipped to care for the complications? That's just not good healthcare."
(continue reading)