The right’s new playbook to restrict access to abortion pills

The next salvo in the crusade to ban abortion is now clear. Anti-abortion activists have launched what they’re privately calling “Rolling Thunder” — a coordinated campaign to pressure the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to restore restrictions on mifepristone, a popular drug used in the US to end pregnancies. Under Rolling Thunder, the existence of which was first reported by Politico, activists also plan to bring new lawsuits against doctors who prescribe abortion medication, and continue lobbying to strip the drug from the market entirely.

Their vision relies heavily on a new report claiming mifepristone causes high rates of health complications — contradicting decades of rigorous drug safety testing. Citing the report, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a bill on May 6 to reimpose mifepristone restrictions, and to allow patients to sue telehealth abortion providers who prescribe it. This comes amid another legal attack on a New York abortion provider, who faces a first-of-its-kind criminal charge for prescribing abortion pills to the mother of a pregnant minor in Louisiana.