AUSTIN (KXAN) – In response to a looming court decision that could reverse the 2000 FDA approval of pills used to end pregnancies, a nonprofit has deployed vehicles around Texas and the U.S. with billboards aiming to inform women how to access abortion pills.
Mayday, a health education nonprofit, sent out two vehicles in Texas – 15 nationwide – with mobile billboards promoting abortion pill access. “They don’t want you to know this – you can still get abortion pills by mail. Visit mayday.health to learn more,” a billboard read.
“The campaign started yesterday. It is going for three days with the idea that we’re still writing our own history, and we haven’t forgotten about the women and people who can get pregnant in banned states,” said Dr. Jen Lincoln, board-certified OB-GYN and Executive Director of Mayday Health.
“A lot of people are afraid to say these things in banned states – especially in Texas –where they’re afraid to even say the word ‘abortion.’ So we’re like, ‘Nope, we’re using free speech, we are showing up.’ And we’re going to tell you that yes, you can still get abortion pills in all 50 states,” Lincoln continued.
Texas District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk will soon make a decision about a lawsuit filed by lawyers from the Alliance for Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group. The lawsuit was filed on Nov. 18, 2022, on behalf of four anti-abortion plaintiffs.
“Pregnancy is not an illness, and chemical abortion drugs don’t provide a therapeutic benefit — they end a baby’s life and they pose serious and life-threatening complications to the mother,” said Alliance for Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake in a November press release.
“The FDA never had the authority to approve these dangerous drugs for sale. We urge the court to listen to the doctors we represent who are seeking to protect girls and women from the documented dangers of chemical abortion drugs,” the press release continued.
Kacsmaryk could side with the plaintiffs and grant an emergency injunction forcing the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone. Abortion advocates said this would pull the drug from the market and effectively initiate a nationwide ban on the medication.
Lincoln said that her nonprofit started in the wake of the Roe v. Wade reversal. She said if the FDA approval of the medication is revoked, her organization will continue its efforts.
“Every time they try to pass a law or a ban that makes it more difficult for people to access abortions, that is the day that we show up. And we do even more because our goal is we want people to know that they can fight back,” Lincoln said.
“[Abortion pills] are effective over 99% of the time. They send fewer people to the emergency room than Tylenol, Viagra and penicillin. And people deserve to know. It is true reproductive justice when you get to decide how you want to be pregnant or stay pregnant and have the full support of all of your choices, including abortion,” she continued.