The Food and Drug Administration recently lifted restrictions on abortion pills to allow patients to get them through telemedicine.
 Credit: Katharina Staerck/Getty

The Biden Administration is removing restrictions on mailing abortion pills during the COVID-19 pandemic, a reversal from the Trump Administration’s policy that marks a new phase in the national debate over abortion rights.

The move temporarily changes longstanding Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules governing mifepristone—one of two drugs used to terminate early pregnancies—that required patients to pick up the pills in-person from a medical provider. Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock sent a letter to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine on Monday saying that her agency reviewed recent evidence and found that using telemedicine to provide abortion pills would not increase risks and would help patients avoid potential exposure to COVID-19.

The change only lasts through the public health emergency, and the FDA has not said how it will handle the requirement after the pandemic. But abortion pills have become the latest front in the heated battle over reproductive rights

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