The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to limit access to a widely used abortion medication, rejecting a challenge from antiabortion doctors two years after the court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade.
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In a unanimous ruling, the court sided with the Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone and reversed a lower court decision that would have made it more difficult to obtain the drug used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions. The opinion was not on the substance of the case, but on a procedural ruling that the plaintiffs did not have legal grounds to bring the challenge.
Writing for the court, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said the antiabortion doctors who brought the case do not prescribe or use mifepristone, and the FDA’s relaxed regulation of the medication does not require those doctors to do or refrain from doing anything.
“Rather, the plaintiffs want FDA to make mifepristone more difficult for other doctors to prescribe and for pregnant women to obtain,” Kavanaugh wrote. Under the Constitution, he added, a group’s “desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue.”
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Even though the court’s decision was unanimous, it is unlikely to be the end of efforts to restrict access to the pill. The ruling leaves an opening for three states — Missouri, Kansas and Idaho — to quickly try to revive the challenge before a federal judge in Texas who is well-known for his antiabortion views.
After the ruling, antiabortion advocates quickly pledged to continue their efforts to limit access to mifepristone — promising that this case is not over.
“While we’re disappointed with the court’s decision, we will continue to advocate for women and work to restore common-sense safeguards for abortion drugs,” said Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior counsel, Erin Hawley, who represented the antiabortion doctors. “And we are grateful that three states stand ready to hold the FDA accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of women and girls across this country.
President Biden said in a statement Thursday that the court’s decision “does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues. … It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.”
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In a unanimous ruling, the court sided with the Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone and reversed a lower court decision that would have made it more difficult to obtain the drug used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions. The opinion was not on the substance of the case, but on a procedural ruling that the plaintiffs did not have legal grounds to bring the challenge.
Writing for the court, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said the antiabortion doctors who brought the case do not prescribe or use mifepristone, and the FDA’s relaxed regulation of the medication does not require those doctors to do or refrain from doing anything.
“Rather, the plaintiffs want FDA to make mifepristone more difficult for other doctors to prescribe and for pregnant women to obtain,” Kavanaugh wrote. Under the Constitution, he added, a group’s “desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue.”
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Ever since the high court eliminated the nationwide right to abortion in 2022, medications to terminate pregnancy have grown in importance and become a major target of litigation, in part because the pills can be sent by mail, including to states that have severely limited or banned abortions.
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Even though the court’s decision was unanimous, it is unlikely to be the end of efforts to restrict access to the pill. The ruling leaves an opening for three states — Missouri, Kansas and Idaho — to quickly try to revive the challenge before a federal judge in Texas who is well-known for his antiabortion views.
After the ruling, antiabortion advocates quickly pledged to continue their efforts to limit access to mifepristone — promising that this case is not over.
“While we’re disappointed with the court’s decision, we will continue to advocate for women and work to restore common-sense safeguards for abortion drugs,” said Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior counsel, Erin Hawley, who represented the antiabortion doctors. “And we are grateful that three states stand ready to hold the FDA accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of women and girls across this country.
President Biden said in a statement Thursday that the court’s decision “does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues. … It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.”
