Washington– The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved women’s right to access the drug used in the most common abortion method, rejecting restrictions imposed by the lower court while the lawsuit continues.
The court order allows women seeking an abortion to continue getting mifepristone from pharmacies or by mail, without an in-person visit to the doctor. Access is likely to remain uninterrupted at least until next year as the case continues, including a potential appeal to the Supreme Court.
The justices granted emergency requests from the makers of mifepristone, which is appealing a federal appeals court ruling that required women to see a doctor in person and halted delivery of mifepristone by mail. The federal Food and Drug Administration, which first approved mifepristone for abortion in 2000, stopped requiring in-person visits five years ago.
FILE – Boxes of mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, March 16, 2022.
AP Photo/Allen J. Breed, file
Anti-abortion groups, frustrated with President Donald Trump’s administration, are pushing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to move faster with a review they hope will lead to restrictions on mifepristone, including banning its prescription via telehealth platforms. The Republican administration says the work takes time.
Earlier this week, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty McCurry resigned after months of criticism from Trump’s political allies, including abortion opponents.
Susan B. invited Anthony Pro-Life America and similar allied groups called on Trump to fire McCurry over the slow pace of the mifepristone review.
The court is dealing with its latest controversy over abortion four years after its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion.
The case before the court stems from a lawsuit filed by Louisiana to overturn FDA rules on how mifepristone should be prescribed. The state claims the policy undermines prohibition there, calling into question the safety of the drug, which FDA scientists have repeatedly deemed safe and effective.
Lower courts concluded that Louisiana was likely to prevail, and a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that access to mail and telehealth visits should be suspended while the case is heard.
This medication is often used for abortion in combination with another medication, misoprostol. Medical abortions accounted for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States in 2023, the last year for which statistics are available.
The current dispute is similar to one that went to court three years ago.
Lower courts then also sought to restrict access to mifepristone, in a case brought by doctors who oppose abortion. They filed suit in the months after the court overturned Roe.
The Supreme Court blocked the Fifth Circuit’s ruling from taking effect on the dissenting votes of Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Then, in 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the doctors’ lawsuit, arguing that they had no legal right or standing to sue.
In the current dispute, major medical groups, the drug industry, and Democratic members of Congress have warned the court against restricting access to the drug. Pharmaceutical companies said a ruling against abortion opponents would upend the drug approval process.
The controversy over the safety of mifepristone has continued for more than 25 years. The FDA has eased a number of restrictions it initially imposed on the drug, including who can prescribe it, how it is distributed, and what types of safety complications must be reported.
Despite these decisions, anti-abortion groups have filed a series of petitions and lawsuits against the agency, generally claiming that it violated federal law by turning a blind eye to safety issues related to birth control pills.
The Trump administration has been unusually quiet on the Supreme Court. She declined to provide a written brief recommending what the court should do, even though the federal regulations are at issue.
This issue puts the administration in a difficult position. Trump relied on the political support of anti-abortion groups, but he also saw ballot questions and poll results showing that Americans generally support abortion rights.
Both sides considered the administration’s silence as an implicit endorsement of the appeal ruling.
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Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey
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