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51% #1761: The Battle for Mifepristone

FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. The Supreme Court is deciding whether women will face restrictions in getting a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the United States, while a lawsuit continues. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)
Allen G. Breed/AP
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AP
FILE - Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. The Supreme Court is deciding whether women will face restrictions in getting a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the United States, while a lawsuit continues. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)

The accessibility of the key abortion medication mifepristone hangs in the balance after a federal judge in Texas ruled earlier this month to suspend the Food & Drug Administration’s approval of the drug. On the latest 51%, we discuss the future of the case and learn how mifepristone works.

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Guests: Carmel Shachar, executive director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School; Dr. Wendy Parker, executive director of The Collaboratory at the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; Jackie Dwyer, pharmacist at The Collaboratory

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Our host is Jesse King, our associate producer is Jody Cowan, our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue.

51%
Jesse King is the host of WAMC's national program on women's issues, "51%," and the station's bureau chief in the Hudson Valley. She has also produced episodes of the WAMC podcast "A New York Minute In History."
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