The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld access to the abortion drug mifepristone, while a lawsuit challenging its use is underway in lower courts.
The Supreme Court released a summary late Friday accepting urgent requests from the Biden administration and the drug’s maker, Danco Laboratories, to continue allowing women access to the drug. The ruling is still a preliminary order from a Texas federal judge who earlier this month ordered restrictions on abortion pills. Two judges on the nine-member court – Conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – disagreed with the decision.
The court has set a deadline of midnight Friday to approve the Biden administration’s request – to keep the drug available while the administration challenges a lower court ruling – or to allow limited access to the drug. to take effect. The lower court ruling in question was delivered April 7 by a federal judge in Texas after a coalition of anti-abortion groups and doctors argued that the drug regulator The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, inappropriately approved mifepristone in 2000 and did not fully assess its risks. and benifit.
The ruling, which severely restricted the drug’s availability, was appealed, and although the appeals court reversed part of the ruling that would have invalidated FDA approval, it still limited availability of drugs. The case is expected to be appealed again and may eventually be decided by the Supreme Court. Friday’s Supreme Court ruling suggests continued use of mifepristone at least until the year after the appeals take place. Used in half of all abortions in the US Mifepristone is used in about half of all abortions nationwide.
It has been used by about 5 million women since it was first approved in 2000, and major health organizations say it has a strong safety record. Medications are also commonly used to help control miscarriages. Currently, the drug can be used by women to terminate a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks without surgery. It is available by mail without the need to see a doctor in person. At the time the lower court’s decision was issued restricting access to the drug, President Joe Biden said in a statement that the judge had superseded his own ruling for the FDA, the agency that specializes in drug abuse. responsible for drug approval.
Biden said if the decision goes into effect, “virtually no FDA-approved prescription will be immune to these kinds of political and ideological attacks.” The fight takes place after Roe’s reversal against Wade The judge making the decision, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, was appointed by former President Donald Trump, as were the appellate court judges, who upheld limits on the drug’s availability.
The fight against mifepristone comes after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority last year overturned a Roe v. Wade is the man who legalized abortion nationwide. The court ruled that it is now up to each state to decide if abortion is legal. The FDA has made mifepristone easier to use in recent years, including in 2016 approving its use during pregnancy up to 10 weeks, up from seven weeks, and in 2021 allowing delivery of the drug by mail. Electricity in states allows access.
