Supreme Court Hears Abortion Drug Arguments

A lawsuit regarding a drug that medically induces abortion appeared in front of the Supreme Court on March 26.

The legal organization “Alliance Defending Freedom” filed the case against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, alleging the FDA neglected to consider serious safety issues when allowing medical abortions to be easier to obtain. The ADF is the same organization that played a significant role in overturning Roe V. Wade in 2022. 

The FDA has rejected these claims, and many leading major medical organizations, such as the American Medical Association, have agreed that the drug is safe.

A medical abortion involves two pills: mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone is the first drug administered, which prevents the hormone ‘progesterone’ from being able to help develop the pregnancy. The second drug administered is misoprostol, which expels the pregnancy from the uterus. 

The case only centers around mifepristone, a hormone blocker, failing to address the drug that induces the termination. 

The ADF initially filed its case in November 2022 in Amarillo, Texas, where it was brought before a federal judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who ruled in favor of the ADF’s claims. 

In May 2023, the Biden Administration took the ruling to New Orleans, La., where the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on the federal government’s appeal, and the court issued its decision a few months later in August. That decision stated that mifepristone should be available, but the method in which patients can access the drug should go back to what was in place before the FDA began making changes in 2016. 

In the aftermath of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling, the Biden Administration asked the Supreme Court to consider the challenges against mifepristone. As the Supreme Court evaluates its decision, the previous rulings are all temporarily blocked. The decision is likely to be released around the early summer. 

But what would either ruling mean? If the court rules in favor of the FDA, the Supreme Court will overturn the previous rulings, and mifepristone will remain on the market as before the lawsuit. If the court rules in favor of the ADF, it would overturn the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone.