On Tuesday, October 1, 2024, Physicians for Reproductive Health hosted a virtual webinar, in partnership with We Testify and Ibis Reproductive Health.
The June Supreme Court case decision that preserved access to mifepristone brought conversations regarding medication abortion to the forefront of public policy and advocacy discussions. Despite this ruling focusing on one specific medication, mifepristone, abortion care using only the second medication, misoprostol, has always been part of abortion care.
As supporters of abortion care organized in response to the pending decision, it became clear that the broader discussion about the use of miso-only in abortion care did not always recognize the safety, efficacy, and commonness of miso-only abortion care. From completely ignoring the medication as a safe option, viewing miso-only as a “lesser” option to misoprostol-mifepristone, or failing to recognize its use as a very common abortion care regime that is widely used throughout the world, there has been a failure to recognize miso-only abortion care as a very real option for people seeking abortion care.
PRH brought together experts on misoprostol to have a conversation about the importance of changing the narrative around miso-only abortion care, including:
- Sarah Prager, a Professor at University of Washington, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and at the UW School of Public Health, where her research focuses on abortion, contraception, and early pregnancy loss.
- Ruvani Jayaweera, an epidemiologist leading work on measuring the experiences of people who self-manage their abortion care and serves as a Research Scientist at Ibis Reproductive Health.
- Emma Hernández, an abortion storyteller and multimedia artist with a background in library, government & non-profit communications, who currently serves as Communications Manager at We Testify, an organization dedicated to the leadership and representation of people who have abortions.