On Thursday, June 13, the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) overturned an order from a lower court directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to limit access to the abortion drug mifepristone. The administration of Joe Biden, which normally favors widespread access to the medicine, celebrated the 9-0 judgment.
The plaintiffs, sponsored by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, were found to lack the legal standing to bring the action because they were not drug users.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said in a majority judgment, “Under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff’s desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue.”
Sadly, mifepristone—which the FDA approved in 2000—is now utilized in almost 60% of abortions performed in the United States.
In 2016 and 2021, the plaintiffs had requested that FDA regulatory actions be reversed. Prescription and distribution of the medication had become simpler nationwide as a result of the move.
The change also permitted mail delivery of the medicine without a woman’s initial in-person consultation with a clinician, enabling medication abortions up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy as opposed to seven.
In 2022, they filed a lawsuit in Texas, and US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk granted their requests and issued an order that might result in the medication being taken off the market entirely.
The US government appealed the ruling to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, where the court directed the FDA to reverse actions done between 2016 and 2021 but stopped short of outright banning the medication.
The Court of Appeals has now overturned that decision as well.
A decision in the plaintiffs’ favor might have put the FDA’s regulatory authority over medication safety in jeopardy.
Mifepristone has been used for decades by millions of women worldwide, with “exceedingly rare” major adverse events, according to the FDA, making it “extremely safe.”
