APA praises supreme court decision to maintain access to abortion drug

WASHINGTON — The American Psychological Affiliation applauded the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s opinion permitting a drug generally used for medical abortions to stay in the marketplace.

“We’re happy that the court docket has preserved entry to this drug. Insurance policies based mostly on the idea that abortion is dangerous to girls’s psychological well being usually are not supported by scientific proof. Analysis has persistently proven that having an abortion just isn’t linked to psychological well being issues, however people who find themselves denied abortions have worse bodily and psychological well being, in addition to financial outcomes,” mentioned APA CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD. 

Following the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s landmark 2022 determination overturning Roe v. Wade, a gaggle of anti-abortion activists sued the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration, difficult its approval of mifepristone, a drug generally utilized in medical abortions. A federal decide initially suspended the FDA’s approval of the drug, however a subsequent determination by a court docket of appeals reinstated approval whereas concurrently putting down the FDA’s earlier adjustments in 2016 to ease entry.

In a unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court docket dominated that the anti-abortion teams that originally sued the FDA lacked standing to convey the case within the first place, leaving all earlier FDA actions intact. 

Together with the Nationwide Affiliation of Social Employees, APA submitted an amicus transient supporting the FDA within the Supreme Court docket case, arguing that the decrease courts’ choices “incorrectly asserted that medicine abortion is linked to unfavorable bodily and psychological well being outcomes.” The transient sought “to make this Court docket conscious of the flawed proof undergirding the decrease courts’ reasoning in these instances,” offering scientific proof that not solely have been voluntary abortions not related to unfavorable bodily or psychological well being outcomes, however denial of entry to abortion care results in higher ranges of hysteria, decrease shallowness and unfavorable socio-economic and bodily well being outcomes.  

APA has lengthy been a voice for equal entry to reproductive well being providers. The affiliation has handed 4 insurance policies or resolutions since 1969 affirming a lady’s proper to decide on and negating assertions relating to the alleged adversarial psychological results of abortion. APA has additionally filed 12 amicus curiae briefs in instances involving abortion. The latest coverage (PDF, 72KB) was handed in February 2022.