Activists gathered in front of the Supreme Court building, advocating both for and against abortion.
The Supreme Court of the United States on Friday agreed to lift restrictions on the use of drugs for abortions while legal proceedings over the legality of the certification of these pills in the country continue. Mifepristone was approved in the U.S. over 20 years ago and is the main method of medical abortion in the country, but recently anti-abortion activists have begun challenging the legality of its approval in court.
The Biden administration has urged the Supreme Court to lift the restrictions on mifepristone. This came after a federal judge in the state of Texas agreed with a lawsuit filed by a group of anti-abortion activists and concluded that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violated the rules for expedited approval of drugs when it approved the use of mifepristone in 2000 after four years of study. Mifepristone is part of a two-pill medical abortion regimen. Since its approval, more than five million women in the United States have used it. The FDA has placed mifepristone in a separate category of 60 drugs that are highly regulated and subject to periodic review.
On April 8, a federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump, Matthew Kacsmaryk, issued a ruling suspending access to mifepristone. But an hour later, in another state, Washington, another judge issued a contradictory ruling on the same issue, allowing the continued use of mifepristone in 17 US states, which the plaintiffs had sought to ban.
The Biden administration has appealed a Texas judge’s ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Hearings are scheduled to begin in May, but in the meantime the court has ruled that the drug should remain available while it is the subject of litigation. However, there are restrictions: for example, the appeals court ruled that mifepristone cannot be sent by mail – meaning that women must visit a doctor in person to take the pills. These restrictions imposed by the Court of Appeals have now been lifted by the Supreme Court. The justices voted to stay the Texas court’s decision in its entirety. The individual votes of the Supreme Court justices have not been made public, but two of them – conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – publicly expressed objections to the decision. Thomas offered no explanation for his position, while Alito wrote that the Supreme Court had previously been criticized for similar expedited “shadow” rulings.
There are currently six conservative justices and three liberals on the Supreme Court. President Joe Biden has stated that thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision, mifepristone will remain accessible and approved as a medication while the legal battle continues. “The stakes for women across America have never been higher. I will continue to fight politically motivated attacks on women’s health,” Biden added.
Last year, the Supreme Court, currently split six to three between conservatives and liberals, overturned the Roe v. Wade decision on a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. This removed the federal guarantee of this right and led to a wave of abortion bans implemented by authorities in certain conservative states. After that, pro-life advocates focused their efforts on the abortion pill, which accounts for more than half of all abortions in the U.S. Authoritative medical organizations in the United States and around the world, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization, agree that mifepristone is a safe and effective method of abortion for women.
Mifepristone was approved in the U.S. in 2000 after a four-year study. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. The Episodes The end of the story: Advertising for podcasts. But a group of anti-abortion doctors filed a lawsuit questioning the drug’s safety and the process by which it was approved. In its lawsuit, a group called the Alliance Defending Freedom claimed that the FDA “must be held accountable for the damage it has caused to the health of countless women and girls. “We look forward to the final decision on this matter that will hold the FDA accountable,” said representatives of the organization. In turn, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other supporters of women’s right to reproductive choice have reacted positively to the recent Supreme Court decision to lift restrictions on mifepristone. “Restricting access to mifepristone, which has been on the market for more than two decades, is too severe a measure even for an extremely aggressive and conservative Supreme Court,” says Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University.
Why does the state need to control abortion? History of the issue. Guest says such restrictions would also set a dangerous precedent for the entire drug approval process in the country, which is conducted by the FDA. “In a sense, they would have opened the season for hunting all FDA-approved drugs,” he said. Similar arguments were made by President Biden following the Texas court’s decision. “If this decision stands, there will not be a single FDA-approved prescription drug that someone cannot mount a political, ideological campaign against,” Biden said.