SCOTUS Preserves Full Access To Mifepristone -- For Now

 

Late today, the Supreme Court put a hold on any restrictions to use of the medical abortion drug mifepristone:

The Supreme Court on Friday preserved full access for now to a key drug that has been taken by millions of women to terminate early pregnancies, its first major abortion-related decision since overturning Roe v. Wade’s constitutional guarantee of abortion rights last year.

It put on hold a lower court’s ruling in favor of antiabortion groups, which said the Food and Drug Administration was wrong to make the drug mifepristone more widely available. A legal battle over whether to permanently reimpose restrictions, and whether the FDA had properly approved use of the drug more than 20 years ago, will continue.

As is typical in emergency actions, the majority did not explain its reasoning for putting the lower court decision on hold. In the only noted dissents, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. said they would not have granted the Biden administration’s request for a stay of the decision. Thomas did not explain his reasoning. Alito said the administration and the public would not have been harmed by agreeing with the lower court, which wanted to reimpose restrictions loosened by the FDA in recent years.  (our emphasis)

Not surprising that the two most radical Republican justices wanted to go ahead with the restrictions the appeals court had pasted onto the Trump judge's decision to suspend the FDA's approval of the drug altogether.

As noted above, this is a temporary (but welcome) reprieve.  The fight's far from over.

BONUS:  Here's NARAL's statement on the hold --

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Department of Justice’s request for a stay in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, blocking lower courts’  dangerous rulings that would have severely restricted access to mifepristone.

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement in response:

“Mifepristone will remain available – for now. We cannot overstate how crucial it is that people still have access to this safe, effective medicine. The fight, however, is far from over. Once again, anti-abortion extremists will use the courts to push their deeply unpopular agenda and once again, we will organize the tens of millions of people who believe in safe, legal abortion to fight back.”

 

BONUS II:  A somewhat optimistic view --

Most significant thing is Alito and Thomas were only ones to dissent. Bodes well for the future and the Texas Judge’s restrictions and those of the Court of Appeals not being upheld, should this case ever reach SCOTUS. https://t.co/dfs2OCN964

— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) April 21, 2023