The United States Supreme Court this Thursday annulled the restrictions imposed by a lower court on access to mifepristone, the pill used in most abortions in the country.
In their unanimous ruling, the court’s nine judges, with a conservative majority, affirm that the doctors and anti-abortion groups challenging the drug lacked standing to bring the case.
Consequently, they annul the ruling on appeal, which they had already suspended anyway.
Abortion rights are one of the main issues in the November elections and the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden asked the court to maintain access to the drug, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000.
“We recognize that many citizens, including the physicians plaintiffs here, have sincere concerns and objections to others using mifepristone and undergoing abortions.“, stressed the magistrate Brett Kavanaugh.
“But citizens and doctors do not have standing to sue simply because others are allowed to perform certain activities.”he added.
“Plaintiffs Lack Standing to Challenge FDA Actions”, he insisted.
“The wrong forum”
The conservative judge estimated that federal courts are “the wrong forum to address plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA actions”. In their opinion they can present their objections through regulatory procedures or through “political and electoral processes”.
In June 2022 the Supreme Court It annulled the constitutional right to abortion that had been in force for half a century and gave the states complete freedom to legislate in this area.
Since then, some 20 states have banned or restricted abortion, but polls show that most Americans support access to safe abortion.
Abortion opponents are trying to restrict access to the pill nationwide, claiming it is unsafe and that anti-abortion doctors are forced to go against their conscience when caring for patients who suffer complications after using it.
A conservative Texas district court judge appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump issued a ruling last year that would have banned mifepristone.
An appeals court overturned this complete ban but restricted access to the drug by reducing the period during which mifepristone can be used from 10 weeks of pregnancy to seven weeks, preventing its mailing, and requiring that the pill be prescribed and administered by a doctor.
The Supreme Court ruling lifts these restrictions.
Medical abortion represented 63% of those performed in the country last year, compared to 53% in 2020, according to the Institute Guttmacher.
Source: Gestion
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