SW News: The federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services of the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has raised concerns over doctors prescribing pills to women before they are pregnant. In an interview with 'Politico,' an FDA spokesperson warned about the risks associated with the medical professionals prescribing the medicines before conceiving.

The agency's remarks follow the lifting of distribution limits on mifepristone in December last year. With this, pregnant women can have early abortions without leaving their homes by having doctors write them prescriptions for the medications online and send the pills to them.

However, after the Supreme Court's decision in June giving states the authority to outlaw the surgery, several telemedicine providers and in-person physicians started prescribing the tablets before pregnancy as a strategy to increase access to the procedure.

The spokesperson stated, "The FDA is concerned about the advance prescribing of mifepristone for this use. Mifepristone is not approved for the advanced provision of medical abortion."

The FDA representative told 'Politico' that if mifepristone was administered before a patient was pregnant, doctors wouldn't be able to properly supervise treatment to ensure safety and effectiveness. Mifepristone inhibits the flow of hormones supporting pregnancy in the uterus.

'Mifepristone,' which is used with the medication misoprostol for early abortions, received FDA approval for the first time in 2000. The FDA permitted these medicated abortions for up to 10 weeks of gestation.

According to the reports by the Guttmacher Institute, medicated abortion or telemedicine abortions make up more than half of all abortions in the US.