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50 years after Roe v. Wade, abortion pills are at the center of a new reproductive rights fight

A woman prepares to take the first of two pills taken for a medical abortion during a visit to a Planned Parenthood clinic Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in Kansas City, Kan. (Charlie Riedel/AP)
A woman prepares to take the first of two pills taken for a medical abortion during a visit to a Planned Parenthood clinic Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in Kansas City, Kan. (Charlie Riedel/AP)

Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the legalization of abortion. While anti-abortion activists celebrated the fact that that decision was overturned recently, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new memorandum from the White House seeking to protect access to medical abortion through the use of pills.

Medicated abortion access is seen as the next big battle in the fight for reproductive rights. This is not the morning-after pill that prevents a pregnancy from occurring, but rather a two-pill treatment that prevents a pregnancy from continuing weeks into the process and it accounts for half of all abortions in the U.S.

The New York Times’ Pam Belluck, who has been reporting on this, joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young for more on the battle building over these pills.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.