Who Regulates Abortion Now?

Authors

Nathan G. Cortez, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of LawFollow
Joanna L. Grossman, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of LawFollow

ORCID (Links to author’s additional scholarship at ORCID.org)

Joanna L. Grossman: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5234-8058

Abstract

Contrary to both conventional wisdom and recent Supreme Court pronouncements, abortion is not simply a matter of state oversight. For a quarter century now, the federal government has been intimately involved in “regulating” abortion through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval and continued oversight over mifepristone and other abortion medications. This Article considers the extent to which federal abortion law both coexists and conflicts with state law, as it does with most areas of medicine. We evaluate which body of law is better able at achieving the goals of modern medicine that is evidence-based, ethical, consistent, and individualized.

Publication Title

Iowa Law Review

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Abortion law, Medication abortion, Abortion as medicine, Federal regulation, State regulation, Self-managed abortion, Mifepristone, Telehealth, Medical ethics

Recommended Citation

Nathan G. Cortez & Joanna L. Grossman, Who Regulates Abortion Now?, 110 Iowa L. Rev. 1579 (2025)