Supreme Court upholds full access to abortion pill
The Supreme Court issued a stay on April 21 that keeps mifepristone on the market without restrictions––for now.
The nation’s highest court’s decision reversed a ruling from a Texas-based federal judge who moved to yank the abortion pill mifepristone off the market in early April. It also ends restrictions on access to mifepristone that an appeals panel put on the drug.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ruled that mifepristone should be pulled off the market over safety issues. However, mifepristone is the most common method of abortion care in the United States and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It has been used safely by more than 5 million women since it was approved in 2000, and it is commonly referred to as safer than Tylenol.
On April 21, the Supreme Court ruled, 7-2, to keep mifepristone available with no restrictions. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision.
The decision is in favor of Danco Laboratories, which manufactures the brand name of mifepristone, mifeprex, and the FDA, which asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
If Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling had been upheld, it would have created chaos in the abortion care space and the pharmaceutical industry. Industry leaders voiced their opposition to the ruling, noting that it would create enormous uncertainty in the pharma space if a judge could take drugs off the market with the swish of a pen. However, the Supreme Court’s decision does not spell the end of the legal battle, as the case now returns to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which initially blocked Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision but added limitations to the drug, including how long into pregnancy it could be taken and how it could be distributed, such as via telehealth and through the mail.
“We are relieved that access to mifepristone will remain protected while this meritless case proceeds,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement April 21. “We can take a breath, but we are not losing our vigilance. Anti-abortion politicians and their allies will not stop until abortion is banned nationwide. Medication abortion is very much still under threat—as is abortion and access to other sexual and reproductive health care. While mifepristone’s approval remains intact and it stays on the market for now, patients and health care providers shouldn’t be at the mercy of the court system.”
Other industry groups agreed that the decision is a relief, but healthcare experts are still worried.
“Although the Supreme Court has kept mifepristone available to patients for the duration of this legal battle, much of the damage of this process remains in place––and we know that the attacks on abortion care will not stop, no matter how many times medical professionals declare that abortion is essential, evidence-based healthcare and that interference in the patient-physician relationship must stop,” Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, MD, FACOG, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, FACOG, CEO of ACOG, said in a statement. “We will continue to lead the medical community in providing the clear, strong evidence about mifepristone so that the Supreme Court can make the right decision in the end. ACOG remains steadfastly in opposition to interference in the patient-physician relationship.”
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."