'Watching it ricochet through the court system'

If you saw this newsletter on Friday, apologies! We were so excited to share this week's news with you we accidentally hit send early. 

As judges in Washington and Texas issued concurrent rulings about access to the abortion pill mifepristone a few weeks ago, Christine Fernando was keeping tabs on the rapidly-changing situation that could affect millions of people in the United States.

As Paste BN's reporter dedicated to covering the mifepristone battle and other reproductive rights topics, Fernando has spent the past few weeks "watching it ricochet through the court system," she told me this week.

👋 Nicole Fallert here, and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, we talk with Paste BN reproductive rights reporter Christine Fernando about her coverage of the winding, "chaotic" story of access to abortion pill mifepristone in the U.S.

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'An amalgam of legislation'

Mifepristone remains available and FDA-approved currently. The Supreme Court put the legal battle over mifepristone on pause this month, granting Americans full access to the medication while a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the drug continues.

Poll: Amid abortion pill battle, most Americans say medication abortion should be legal

The case, filed by the anti-abortion coalition The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, now returns to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. This court is reviewing U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's decision earlier this month that sought to revoke the FDA's approval of the drug. Once that happens, the case will likely make its away to the high court.

And the lawsuit could bring consequences far beyond abortion access; legal experts and pharmaceutical companies are warning a ruling may impact the approval of almost every drug nationwide.

Fernando said reporting on abortion access in the U.S. has been nonstop since the high court overturned Roe v. Wade, the case establishing the constitutional right to abortion, in June 2022.

"It's been an amalgam of legislation across the board in states," Fernando said of what abortion access in the U.S. has become. Fernando has been following every aspect of the scene, developing contacts on both sides of the topic and tapping into on-the-ground networks to find compelling stories for our readers.

"The landscape has become this rapidly shifting patchwork of bans and restrictions," she said.

More from Fernando: Reproductive justice is a human rights, abortion access movement. 

Amid a rapidly changing situation surrounding mifepristone, Fernando's focus recently has been trying to tell the stories of people affected by legal decisions such as this recent fight.

Her approach is to be proactive rather than reactive, she said. When news broke of contending rulings on mifepristone access from courts Texas and Washington (Texas for restrictions, Washington against), Fernando had already laid the groundwork for a story about the reactions of abortion providers and advocates across the nation.

"A big factor here has been all the chaos and confusion providers and advocates have been facing," she said, adding she interviewed dozens of providers within a day of the opposing mifepristone decisions coming out.

"It's easy to get into the dueling federal rulings and the court documents, but at the end of the day, the heart of the story is the people who are affected by it."

One of Fernando's most memorable recent interviews was with Kelsea McLain, deputy director of the Yellowhammer Fund in Alabama, an abortion advocacy and reproductive justice organization. McLain said, "From an Alabama standpoint, if we lose mifepristone, we've then lost almost everything."

McKenna Kelley, board member at Tampa Bay Abortion Fund, told Fernando that losing mifepristone access "would be pretty uniquely devastating."

She's also spoken to anti-abortion advocates like Julie Blake, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, who said with the lawsuit their group is "asking the court to order the FDA to put politics aside."

Mifepristone 'safer than Tylenol,': Experts say amid court battle over major abortion pill

"The story has snowballed," Fernando said of following the fight over access to the abortion pill.

She says that despite state-level changes, the topic has escalated to a matter of national importance. "It has required someone who has been in it and reporting on it over a longer period ... to follow it in a way the story deserves."

Do you have a story idea or tip for Fernando? Reach her at cfernando@usatoday.com.

Accessibility April

As we close the month, I want to shine a light on Accessibility April, a project from Paste BN's Reviewed team that came from our reporters wanting to better highlight adaptive products, assistive technology, and accessible design to help people shop with confidence. Check out the project, and shop assured each review is led, tested and edited by people living with these limitations themselves. 

Thank you

We're already almost through four months of 2023, and I'm in awe of the content our newsroom has been able to produced. This is thanks to you, our subscriber community, for supporting the work of journalists like Christine. Thank you for reading this column, and see you next week.

Best wishes,

Nicole Fallert