The Republican governor of Vermont on Wednesday signed abortion and gender affirmation bills that include protecting access to a drug widely used in abortions, even though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States was to withdraw its approval of the pill, mifepristone.
The bills protect providers from disciplinary action for providing legally protected reproductive health and gender affirmation services. Vermont is the first state to protect access to medical abortion in shield law, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which describes itself as a research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights. .
“Today, we once again reaffirm that Vermont stands on the side of privacy, personal autonomy and reproductive freedom, and that providers are free to practice without fear,” a statement said. Republican Governor Phil Scott.
In identical bills passed by the House and the Senate, “reproductive health care services” include “drugs that have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the termination of pregnancy on or after 1er January 2023, regardless of the current FDA approval status of the drug.”
Last month, the US Supreme Court upheld women’s access to the drug, overturning restrictions from lower courts while a trial continues. Judges granted emergency requests from the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, maker of mifepristone, to appeal a lower court ruling in Texas that would overturn mifepristone’s approval. the FDA.
“Unfortunately, we cannot say how these legal protections will actually play out based on what happens in the Court for the Fifth Circuit, and we will likely appeal this decision no matter what,” an email said. Isabel Guarnieri, from the Guttmacher Institute. All we know is that there is going to be a ton of chaos and confusion. »