In late September, The Food and Drug Administration approved a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone. The pressure from anti-abortion groups and the Republican party has drawn a response from Health Secretary Robert. F Kennedy Jr and the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Martin Makary. They both have said that the agency will study the safety of mifepristone.  

This approval comes in the wake of many states’ abortion bans, which have affected women’s maternal health care. In one instance, a pregnant eight-teen year old girl named Neveah Crain died after being refused medical care from three hospitals in October of 2023.

When Crain arrived at the first hospital, she was feverish and vomiting and had blood stains on her thigh, indicating that she was having a miscarriage and needed immediate medical attention. However, two of the three hospitals refused to help her and discharged with a prescription for strep. Hours later, when her mother drove her to the third and last hospital, doctors said they were unable to help her until they knew the baby was dead. By then she had developed life threatening sepsis. She died with black blood gushing from her mouth. Crain is now known as one of at least three women who have died due to the abortion ban in the state of Texas. 

“Until we can be absolutely certain this isn’t a normal pregnancy, we can’t do anything, because it could be alleged that we were doing an abortion,” said Dr Tony Ogburn, an OB-GYN in San Antonio speaking to reporters Lizzie Presser and Kavitha Surana, from ProPublic. 

Despite the fact that abortion is illegal in Texas and other states, this generic pill has just hit the market, signalling that scientists are still trying to protect women’s health. 

Evida Solutions expects that the pill will hit the market in January of 2026.