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After weeks of uncertainty and confusion, the highest institution of the judiciary in the United States decided on Friday that the abortion pill will remain available on the market for the time being, thus paralyzing lower court rulings that limited or prohibited its use.
Once again, the attention of the entire country was focused on the nine members that make up the Supreme Court of the United States, who had to decide on a highly sensitive issue: whether or not to maintain access to mifepristone, a drug widely used for the interruption of of pregnancy.
On Friday, the judges decided to temporarily maintain its access, thus freezing the rulings of lower courts that had restricted or prohibited its use.
Although it did not rule on the merits of the case, the Court’s ruling implies that mifepristone, used in more than half of the abortions performed in the United States, will remain available while the case is resolved in an appeals court.
The intervention of the Supreme Court was unleashed with the ruling of a Texas District Court judge, in a lawsuit filed by anti-abortion groups, who had banned mifepristone, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more than two years ago. decades.
An appeals court later blocked the ban but imposed restrictions on access to the drug, after which the case went to court, where the Conservatives wield a 6-3 majority.
This Friday’s decision paralyzes the sentences of the lower courts pending an appeals court to resolve the appeal filed by the Department of Justice and Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of mifepristone.
Following the Court’s decision, President Joe Biden declared that the lower court rulings “would have undermined the FDA’s medical judgment and endangered women’s health.”
With this Friday’s resolution, “mifepristone continues to be available and approved for safe and effective use as we continue this fight in the courts,” Biden said in a statement.
Mifepristone is one component of a two-drug procedure that can be used during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. LThe FDA estimates that since its approval in 2000, 5.6 million Americans have used it to terminate pregnancies.
Polls show time and time again that a clear majority of Americans support safe abortion access, even as conservative groups push to limit the procedure or ban it altogether.
with AFP
