Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Availability of Mifepristone
The Supreme Court has unanimously preserved access to mifepristone, the most widely used abortion medication in the United States, utilized in nearly two-thirds of all abortions. The court ruled that abortion opponents lacked the legal standing to sue over the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the drug and subsequent actions to ease access to it. This decision comes as the first abortion-related ruling since the conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.
The case had the potential to restrict access to mifepristone nationwide, including in states where abortion remains legal. The high court is also deliberating another abortion-related case concerning whether a federal law can override state abortion bans in rare emergency cases where a patient's health is at serious risk. Mifepristone, which blocks progesterone and prepares the uterus for the contraction-inducing effects of a second drug, misoprostol, is used to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks gestation.
