The abortion pill will remain available throughout the United States while a lawsuit over its approval and use works through the appeals process, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday.
The court issued a stay that ensures access to mifepristone nationwide, reversing lower court rulings about when and how the abortion medication should be available in a case filed by anti-abortion organizations. The case is expected to ultimately be decided by the high court following appeals court deliberations.
Friday’s decision stems from a ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, where Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, in early April, essentially overturned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone dating back to 2000. Kacsmaryk is a nominee of former President Donald Trump.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans then placed a partial hold on the district court ruling, following a request from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The ruling by that three-judge panel would have kept mifepristone on the market, but required use and administration of mifepristone to revert to the FDA’s pre-2016 instructions.
Mifepristone, which blocks a hormone called progesterone that is needed for a pregnancy to continue, is one of two drugs used in a medication abortion. Medical abortions make up more than half of abortions in the U.S., according to research by the Guttmacher Institute.
Friday’s highly anticipated ruling by the high court means the abortion pill will remain on the market for now without the limitations placed on it by the appeals court.
“The April 7, 2023, order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, case No. 2:22–cv–223, is stayed pending disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,” read the opinion, issued just before 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday.
Source : Indiana Capital
