One of the two manufacturers of the abortion pill mifepristone initiated emergency proceedings at the US Supreme Court on Saturday. The procedure comes one day after a federal appeals court ruled that the abortion pill may no longer be sent by mail throughout the US for the time being.
Source: Belga
In concrete terms, Danco Laboratories is asking the country’s highest judicial body to immediately suspend Friday’s ruling. Women must therefore once again be given the opportunity to receive the abortion pill in their mailbox.
The recent court decision has led to “confusion and unrest surrounding medical decisions with extremely sensitive timing,” Danco writes in the petition. Healthcare providers, patients and pharmacists across the US, including in states where abortion is legal, now have to “guess what is and what is not allowed.”
According to The New York Times, GenBioPro, the other manufacturer of mifepristone, is also planning to initiate a similar procedure.
A federal appeals court ruled on Friday to suspend shipments of the abortion pill, following a request from the state of Louisiana. That Republican state has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. Louisiana fears that the strict policy will be undermined by the possibility of sending the pill by mail.
By 2022, the Supreme Court had ended the federal guarantee of the right to abortion. Several US states have since tightened their laws.
