In 2014, Oklahoma enacted a law requiring doctors to follow the on-label protocol for medical abortions. The Center for Reproductive Rights sued, saying the regulation posed an undue burden on women and arguing that no other state had this requirement.
In 2016, the FDA endorsed an off-label usage of the pills. a medical abortion can be sought three weeks later into the pregnancy. Women are given a smaller dose of the drug and are permitted to self-administer it rather than take it in the presence of a physician.
Critics of the off-label use argued that women faced greater risks of complications – including serious bleeding – from using the medication further into pregnancy.
The state Supreme Court disagreed, calling it "unimaginable that the FDA would revise and update a protocol to one less safe or less effective than the original it approved 16 years earlier."
The court ruled that the Oklahoma regulation "places a substantial obstacle in the path of women's choice and places an undue burden on the woman's rights," according to the Associated Press.
The Center for Reproductive Rights welcomed the court's decision as a victory.