In a significant defeat for anti-abortion advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a legal challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone. This decision means the widely used drug will remain readily available.
The unanimous ruling determined that the group of anti-abortion doctors did not have the legal standing to contest the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decisions easing access to the pill.
Court’s Rationale and Implications
The Supreme Court’s decision, authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, emphasized that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate any direct injury from the FDA’s actions.
Kavanaugh noted that despite the plaintiffs’ “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA’s relaxed regulation of mifepristone,” their lack of concrete harm meant “the federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.”
He suggested that the plaintiffs could pursue their objections through the regulatory process with the FDA, through Congress, or by engaging in political advocacy.
President Joe Biden welcomed the ruling, recognizing it as a win for reproductive rights but acknowledging the ongoing struggle following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade two years ago. “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,” Biden said.
Reactions from Supporters and Opponents
Abortion-rights supporters celebrated the ruling, with Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, expressing relief.
“Thank goodness the Supreme Court rejected this unwarranted attempt to curtail access to medication abortion,” Northup stated, though she lamented that the case had persisted for so long. Danco Laboratories, which manufactures Mifeprex (the brand version of mifepristone), also praised the decision.
Company spokeswoman Abigail Long highlighted that the ruling maintained the stability of the FDA drug approval process, crucial for the pharmaceutical industry and patients alike.
Conversely, anti-abortion groups expressed disappointment. Erin Hawley, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs from the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, criticized the ruling.
“We are disappointed that the Supreme Court did not reach the merits of the FDA’s lawless removal of commonsense safety standards for abortion drugs,” Hawley said, indicating hope that lawsuits from Idaho, Missouri, and Kansas might still succeed with different standing arguments.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, emphasized the significance of the upcoming presidential election, pointing to Biden’s strong defense of abortion rights and potential further restrictions under a possible Trump administration. B
iden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, warned that Trump and his allies could attempt to ban abortion nationwide and restrict contraception access without needing Congress or the courts.
Ongoing Legal and Political Battles
The mifepristone ruling is not the only abortion-related case before the Supreme Court. The court is also set to decide on whether Idaho’s strict abortion ban limits doctors in emergency rooms from performing abortions when a pregnant woman faces dangerous complications.
This decision follows two years of heightened state-level abortion restrictions in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The FDA had garnered support from the pharmaceutical industry, which argued that allowing untrained federal judges to second-guess the drug approval process could create chaos and stifle innovation.
Last year, Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s sweeping ruling invalidating the FDA’s approval of mifepristone caused significant concern among abortion-rights advocates. The Supreme Court temporarily halted that ruling, maintaining the availability of the pill during ongoing litigation.
In August, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed Kacsmaryk’s decision but still found the FDA’s 2016 decision to lift certain restrictions unlawful. Both sides appealed to the Supreme Court, which chose to focus solely on the FDA’s later actions, including the decision to make the drug available by mail in 2021.
This ruling ensures that mifepristone remains accessible under current regulations, allowing its use within 10 weeks of gestation and permitting healthcare providers other than physicians to dispense the pill. The court’s decision underscores its continued influential role in the abortion debate, even as it tries to step back from the political fray.
