Supreme Court maintains access to abortion pill

The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld access to a drug used in the most common method of terminating a pregnancy, rejecting lower court restrictions while a lawsuit is resolved.

The judges they agreed to emergency requests the government of President Joe Biden and Danco Laboratories, manufacturers of the drug mifepristone. They are appealing a lower court ruling that would void the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone.

The drug has been licensed in the United States since 2000 and more than 5 million people have used it. Mifepristone is used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, in more than half of all abortions in the United States.

The Supreme Court had initially said it would decide on Wednesday whether the restrictions would take effect while the case continues. A one-sentence order signed by Judge Samuel Alito on Wednesday gave the judges two extra days, without explanation.

The mifepristone challenge, brought by abortion opponents, is the first abortion controversy to reach the nation’s highest court since its conservative majority struck down Roe v. Wade 10 months ago and allowed more than a dozen states to ban abortion entirely.

In his majority opinion, Alito said one of the reasons for overturning Roe was to remove federal courts from the fight against abortion. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the elected representatives of the people,” he wrote.

Opponents of abortion filed a lawsuit in Texas in November, claiming that the original FDA approval of mifepristone 23 years ago and subsequent changes were flawed.

They obtained a ruling on April 7 from US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Donald Trump, revoking the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. The judge gave the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, the maker of mifepristone, a week to appeal and try to keep his ruling on hold.

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