US Supreme Court to rule on abortion pill access, in first case since it overturned Roe vs Wade
- The US Supreme Court will decide how available a widely used abortion pill will be
- Pill-induced abortion is now the most common method for terminating a pregnancy in the US
The US Supreme Court will decide how available a widely used abortion pill will be, agreeing to hear the Biden administration’s appeal of a ruling that would bar mail-order prescriptions and require in-person doctor visits.
The case pulls the justices back into one of the nation’s most bitterly contested issues, setting up a ruling next year in the middle of the presidential campaign. It follows the high court’s 2022 decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion.
Pill-induced abortion is now the most common method for terminating a pregnancy in the US. The drug at the centre of the high court fight, mifepristone, has become a top target for anti-abortion advocates.
More broadly, the case will test the power of federal judges to overrule the Food and Drug Administration on the safety and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. A federal appeal court blocked recent steps taken by the FDA to broaden the drug’s availability, saying the agency gave short shrift to safety concerns.
The Biden administration said it believes the case marks the first time a court has ever restricted an FDA-approved drug on those grounds.
“FDA’s actions were supported by an exhaustive review of a record including dozens of scientific studies and decades of safe use of mifepristone by millions of women in the United States and around the world,” US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, said in the appeal.
The court will also hear a similar appeal from the drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories LLC. A group of anti-abortion doctors and organizations is challenging mifepristone’s availability.
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