Providing medical abortion: legal issues of relevance to providers

As early medical abortion becomes more widely used and available in the United States, providers of women's health care are questioning whether, and in what way, existing abortion restrictions apply to medical abortion. Many of these laws, virtually all of which were written before early medical abortion was widely used in this country, make little sense in the context of medical abortion. Nonetheless, most abortion restrictions are broadly written and could be interpreted by state officials to apply to providers of medical abortion. This paper identifies and briefly describes common types of abortion restrictions, including physician-only laws, targeted regulation of abortion providers, fetal tissue examination and disposal laws, parental involvement requirements, and mandatory waiting periods, and explains the extent to which these types of requirements may be enforced against providers of medical abortion. In addition, because some abortion restrictions are irrational or impose significant and unwarranted burdens on women's access when applied to medical abortion, they may be vulnerable to legal challenge. We also review possible legal efforts to invalidate these laws, as well as legislative or regulatory changes that can be sought in order to make medical abortion truly accessible to women in this country.