S. 237: Protecting Access to Medication Abortion Act of 2023

This bill requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that patients may receive mifepristone through prescriptions issued via telehealth and filled by mail. The FDA has approved mifepristone for medication abortions (i.e., a procedure in which prescription drugs are used to terminate a pregnancy).

(Mifepristone is subject to a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, which imposes various safety-related requirements. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, the FDA suspended enforcement of a requirement that the drug must be dispensed in person, a requirement in the strategy at the time. In January 2023, the FDA updated the strategy to remove the in-person dispensing requirement.)

Under this bill, the FDA must ensure that the strategy for mifepristone (1) does not have an in-person dispensing requirement, (2) allows patients to access prescriptions for mifepristone via telehealth, and (3) authorizes all pharmacies certified to dispense mifepristone to patients to do so via mail.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.