Access to abortion medication defended by Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Widely Used Abortion Drug Mifepristone, Rebuking Lower Court

In a rare unanimous decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to the FDA’s rules for prescribing and dispensing the abortion and miscarriage management drug mifepristone. The case, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and Danco Laboratories v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had sent shockwaves across the medical and legal communities when a Trump-appointed district judge in Texas suspended the FDA’s approval of the drug last year.

The challengers’ “sincere legal, moral, ideological and policy objections” to mifepristone don't give them standing to sue. — Justice Brett Kavanaugh, majority opinion

The court, in an opinion written by Justice Kavanaugh, said the anti-abortion doctors who brought the case lacked a legitimate basis to sue, as they don't prescribe the drug and are fully protected by federal law from being required to provide abortions or other objectionable treatments. The ruling also rebuked the right-leaning 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had upheld the lower court's block of newer FDA regulations broadening access to the drug.

Mifepristone, first approved in 2000, is now used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the nation, and its use has been expanding due to loosened FDA rules that allow it to be prescribed through telehealth and by pharmacists. The anti-abortion doctors challenged these rules, arguing they would be forced to treat women with emergency complications from taking mifepristone, but the court found they hadn't shown sufficient harm.

And they may also express their views about abortion and mifepristone to fellow citizens, including in the political and electoral processes. — Justice Brett Kavanaugh

The decision avoided second-guessing the FDA's determination that the changes to mifepristone's approval were based on extensive evidence, and it affirms the independence of the FDA's regulatory process.