ABSTRACT
This chapter will describe two key events for reproductive rights in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first is the suspension of abortion as a non-essential healthcare service by a dozen states at the beginning of the pandemic. Though most courts struck down orders that temporarily prohibited abortion services, two appellate courts allowed the suspensions to go into effect. The second is litigation over a restriction of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that required patients to pick up the first drug of a medication abortion at a healthcare facility. A federal district court suspended that rule. The divergent visions of abortion care offered in both sites of litigation emphasize the contested nature of abortion care, which is increasingly accomplished by pills and not procedures. More importantly, these two case studies illustrate how battles over facts and evidence shaped pandemic abortion debates.
