The US Supreme Court ruled on Friday that women in the United States should have access to a widely used abortion pill for the time being. The Court rejected immediate restrictions on the availability of the drug imposed by a Texas federal judge earlier this month, while litigation continues.
If the Court had decided otherwise, obtaining mifepristone, which can usually be used in combination with the antacid Misprostol to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester, would have become considerably more difficult from Friday night. Instead, nothing will change for now.
The ruling is an interim but significant victory for President Biden’s administration. He is committed to maintaining access to the substance, which is at stake in the latest battle in the heated American abortion debate. The government had filed a lawsuit with the manufacturer of mifepristone to suspend the drastic decision of the Texas judge.
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That judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled on April 7 that the availability of mifepristone should be severely restricted, while a lawsuit brought by anti-abortion groups in the US against approval of the drug by the US is pending. US Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA approved the drug in the year 2000; according to anti-abortion groups, this would have been done in a careless manner.
Outside abortion clinics
Mifepristone is an important abortion drug in the US. In 2020, it was used in 54 percent of all abortions, according to the Gutmacher Institute center of expertise. An estimated 5.6 million American women took mifepristone to terminate a pregnancy. Crucially, the drug can be obtained outside abortion clinics — including in states where access to abortion has been severely restricted since the Supreme Court last June overturned federal abortion rights stemming from the landmark ruling. Roe v. Wade from 1973.
Biden welcomed the Court’s latest ruling. “As a result of the block by the Supreme Court, mifepristone remains available and approved for safe and effective use as we continue to battle in court,” he said in a statement.
It’s a remarkable ruling from the nine-member Supreme Court, where conservative justices have a wide majority of six to three since Trump was able to appoint three senior justices during his term in office. Observers say the ruling may indicate that while the Court has struck down the federal right to abortion, it wants to leave the matter to the states.
Court divided
However, the verdict was not unanimous; two extremely conservative senior justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, filed dissent. According to Alito, a fierce anti-abortion judge who wrote the ruling last year Roe v. Wade was dropped, the government and the producer have failed to demonstrate that they would suffer “irreparable harm” had the Texas judge’s order gone into effect.
The process for FDA approval of mifepristone continues May 17 in a federal court in New Orleans. The case may eventually end up in the Supreme Court as well. While Friday’s ruling offers no guarantees, observers say it indicates that the Court is skeptical about the case as a whole.