The supreme court in the US blocked restrictions on mifepristone while a lawsuit brought by anti-abortion groups targeting the pill proceeds.
US Supreme Court protected access to a widely used abortion drug by freezing lower-court rulings that placed restrictions on its usage as appeals play out.
As a result, the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug mifepristone and subsequent actions that made it more easily accessible will remain in place while appeals play out – potentially for months to come.
The case is the most important abortion-related dispute to reach the high court since the justices overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering conservative states across the country to either ban or severely restrict the procedure. How the dispute over medication abortion is ultimately resolved could make it more difficult for women to obtain abortion, even in the states that still allow it.
Mifepristone has been used by millions of women across the country in the more than two decades that it has been on the market.
The next step in the litigation will be a hearing in front of a New Orleans-based federal appeals court on May 17.
“The case could well come back to the justices once the Fifth Circuit rules, but nothing is going to change with respect to mifepristone access until and unless the court both takes the case on the merits and sides with the challengers,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “That’s not going to happen for a long time – if ever.”
President Joe Biden praised the order.
“As a result of the Supreme Court’s stay, mifepristone remains available and approved for safe and effective use while we continue this fight in the courts,” Biden said in a statement Friday evening.
Biden also urged Americans “to use their vote as their voice, and elect a Congress who will pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v Wade.”
What could this case mean for abortion access?
If mifepristone becomes less available, and since medication abortion accounts for more than half of US abortions, providers fear a surge of demand on clinics providing surgical procedures. Many are already under strain from an increase in patients traveling from states where abortion is banned or heavily restricted.
Online pharmacies and other telehealth providers have proliferated since Roe v Wade was overturned, enabled by the FDA’s 2021 decision to allow abortion pills to be sent in the mail. If the courts ultimately rule that mifepristone cannot be mailed, this could shutter those businesses.
Why did the supreme court block the order?
Many abortion advocates have feared this moment, considering the conservative court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade last summer. While Friday order did not include any reasoning for the decision, supreme court precedent has generally been deferential to the FDA when it comes to regulating drugs.
The Biden administration, along with a coalition of pharmaceutical companies, warned of ensuing regulatory chaos around drug approvals should the judiciary be permitted to order regulations on mifepristone opposed by the FDA.
Sources: CNN, Guardian