The Abortion Pill in Libertarian Land

Unintended Consequences of the FDA

Earlier this week, a three judge panel from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in a case that seeks to undo the Food and Drug Administration’s approval in 2000 of mifepristone, the abortion pill.

This situation could not arise in Libertarian Land, because it has no FDA. Libertarian Land never bans the production, marketing, sale, or purchase of any good.

Thus no court could order the FDA to rescind its approval of mifepristone; in Libertarian Land, it is widely available for anyone willing to pay the price.

Libertarians believe this is good policy because a ban on mifepristone, just like a ban on alcohol or marijuana or heroin, would create a black market and the attendant ills: violence, corruption, reduced quality control, and erosion of the rule of law.

Abortion opponents might respond that banning mifepristone reduces the number of abortions.

Whatever the merits of that goal, however, the magnitude of any reduction is likely small. The abortion pill can be mailed anywhere , legally or not; and existing evidence suggests prohibitions have only a modest impact on use of the prohibited good.