Planned Parenthood of Arizona v. William Humble
Opinion
Opinion
I. Background
“Before 2000, most first-trimester abortions were surgical, performed by a procedure commonly known as vacuum aspiration or suction curettage.” Planned Parenthood Sw. Ohio Region v. DeWine, 696 F.3d 490, 494 (6th Cir. 2012). In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) first approved the use of medications to perform abortions. Id.
A. Medication Abortion Regimens
The far-and-away most common method of medication abortion employs a combination of two prescription drugs, mifepristone (sometimes known as RU-486) and misoprostol. Mifepristone ends pregnancy by blocking the hormone progesterone, thereby causing the fertilized egg to detach from the uterine wall. Misoprostol causes the uterus to contract and expel its contents. In 2000, the FDA approved mifepristone for use in medication abortions under the brand name Mifeprex. The approved drug label for Mifeprex described an “on-label” regimen requiring a woman to take 600 milligrams of mifepristone orally at a clinic, return to the clinic two days later to take 400 micrograms of misoprostol orally, and return again for a follow-up visit. These three