Culture and Social Issues

State Board Determines Abortion Reversal Pills Are Outside ‘Generally Accepted’ Practice

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The Colorado Medical Board announced a new rule Thursday that argued the abortion reversal pill, progesterone, was outside of the “generally accepted” practice, according to the Colorado Sun.

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation in April that barred pregnancy centers from giving women the reversal pill after they have taken the first chemical abortion pill. Democrats had pushed the board to rule that the pill constituted “unprofessional conduct,” but the board determined that doctors who prescribe the pill are outside “generally accepted standard of practice” and would investigate the issue further, according to the Colorado Sun.

“Although the board will not treat medication abortion reversal as a per se act of unprofessional misconduct, the board does not consider administering, dispensing or delivering progesterone with the intent to interfere with, reverse, or halt a medication abortion through the use of mifepristone to meet generally accepted standards of medical practice,” the rule reads, according to the Colorado Sun.

The board explained that it will investigate each administration of the drug on a case-by-case basis, according to the Colorado Sun. In July, the board proposed a draft of the rule that appeared to directly contradict the legislation signed by Polis, which argued that prescribing the pills should be considered “unprofessional conduct.”

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the chemical abortion pill mifepristone has been under scrutiny in the past several months after a Texas judge ruled in April that the agency had mistakenly rushed to approve the medication at the risk of harming pregnant women. On Wednesday, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals determinedthat the FDA’s recent decisions to ship pills through the mail and allow pharmacists to dispense them to women without a doctor’s prescription was mistaken.

The case is currently awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court, which issued an emergency stay in April to keep the pills on the market while the litigation continues.

The Colorado Medical Board did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.