This year, the annual Women’s March on Washington, D.C. did not fight for generalities, but instead focused on one very specific demand.
The protest’s agenda item of priority was the accessibility of mifepristone, also known as the “abortion pill,” which can be used to terminate pregnancies up to ten weeks of gestation. Mifepristone was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000.
The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, formed in 2022 and headquartered in Amarillo, Texas, argued that the FDA should not have allowed the pill to become as accessible as it is. Mifepristone accounted for 63% of abortions in the United States in 2023, showing a 10% increase since 2020, two years before the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The U.S. Supreme Court will commence its hearings for the FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine today. Thousands are expected to show up throughout the day, protesting both for and against the ban of the pill.
“We’re going to be there to make sure that folks have an opportunity to really show the Supreme Court the extent to which they are concerned about the decision around mifepristone and to really hold the court accountable,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, the executive director of the Women’s March.
