The Supreme Court has rejected a bid to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
After months of deliberation, the Supreme Court announced Thursday its unanimous decision to reject a lawsuit by anti-abortion doctors aiming to restrict access to mifepristone — a commonly used abortion pill available by telehealth and mail since 2021.
The decision means the abortion medication, which has been deemed highly effective and safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will continue to remain widely available across the country.
The justices ruled that the group did not have a legal right to sue over the FDA’s approval of the medication and efforts to make it more accessible, effectively dismissing the lawsuit.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of the conservative judges who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago, wrote for the court that “federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.”
While the lawsuit will be dismissed due to a lack of legal standing, the court did not actually come to a decision on whether the FDA acted lawfully in making the drug available by mail or relaxing other restrictions on its access, so the issue could be revisited in future cases.
For now, however, the medication will continue to be available and can still be prescribed by healthcare practitioners other than physicians, as long as they meet certain qualifications and are certified under the Mifepristone REMS Program.
Originally approved by the FDA in 2000, mifepristone is used in a regimen with misoprostol to end an intrauterine pregnancy through 10 weeks gestation.
Medication abortion accounted for nearly two-thirds of abortions in the formal U.S. healthcare system in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit that tracks anti-abortion bills.
“Even with this baseless challenge defeated, we must remain vigilant,” said Destiny Lopez, acting co-CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, in a statement. “The anti-abortion movement is ruthlessly pursuing its end goal of banning abortion nationwide. In the face of relentless attacks, policymakers at all levels need to keep pushing forward expansive and protective policies that ensure everyone can access abortion care using the method that best suits their needs.”
The Supreme Court is meanwhile due to make another major abortion decision soon, ruling whether Idaho’s strict ban prevents physicians from performing emergency abortions on women with severe health complications.
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