Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Controversial Abortion Pill Case

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to review an August decision by an appeals court which cut off access to a widely-used abortion pill, mifepristone, also known as RU-486.

The move comes just 18 months the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion.

If the USSC agrees, it could limit abortion access even in states where the practice remains legal. Of note, abortion pills account for more than half of abortions in the US according to the Guttmacher Institute, as noted by Axios.

The decision to take up the case follows a ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that would end legal usage of the pill, as well as block its distribution and delivery – including telemedicine prescriptions and shipments of the drug. The Court will also hear an appeal by the drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories.

The 5th Circuit’s decision is currently on hold pending the outcome of the appeal at the Supreme Court in a challenge to the pill brought in Texas by anti-abortion groups and doctors. The justices are expected to hear arguments in the coming months and issue a decision by the end of June in the middle of a heated presidential race. –Reuters

Mifepristone is combined with another drug called misoprostol to perform a medical abortion.

Mifepristone and misoprostol pills at a clinic for medication abortions.Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune via Getty Images file

The Biden DOJ, meanwhile, has told the Supreme Court that allowing the 5th Circuit decision to stand would have “damaging consequences for women seeking lawful abortions and a healthcare system that relies on the availability of the drug under the current conditions of use.”

As Axios further notes;

The maker of mifepristone, Danco Laboratories, and the Department of Justice in September asked justices to review a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the FDA failed to take into account safety concerns when it made mifepristone more easily accessible in 2016.

Danco cited the ruling’s risks and confusion to women and the health system — and the way the challenge to the FDA’s authority destabilizes the drug and biotech industries.
The three-judge panel at 5th Circuit partially blocked a lower court ruling that struck the FDA’s approval of the drug, which was granted in 2000, in response to a suit from anti-abortion forces.