The Supreme Court on Friday blocked new restrictions set by lower courts on a widely used abortion pill, delivering a victory to President Joe Biden’s administration as it defends broad access to the drug in the latest fierce legal battle over reproductive rights in the United States.
The justices, in a brief order, granted emergency requests by the Justice Department and the pill’s manufacturer Danco Laboratories to put on hold an April 7 preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas. The judge’s order would greatly limit the availability of mifepristone while litigation proceeds in a challenge by anti-abortion groups to its federal regulatory approval.
Rep. Sara Jacobs released a statement of support and said “the fight doesn’t stop here as the merits of the case are considered in the Fifth Circuit.”
“Extremist Republicans and far-right judges have their eyes set on a national abortion ban, and they won’t stop until they achieve that dystopian dream,” said the Democrat who represents the 51st District in central San Diego County. “As one of the few women of reproductive age in Congress, I will stay vigilant and keep fighting until abortion isn’t only legal, but affordable, accessible, stigma-free, and de-politicized for all.”
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly dissented from the decision.
Alito, in a brief opinion, wrote that the administration and Danco “are not entitled to a stay because they have not shown that they are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the interim.”
The Food and Drug Administration, the agency that signs off on the safety of food products, drugs and medical devices, approved mifepristone in 2000. The current case could undercut federal regulatory authority over drug safety.
Biden’s administration is seeking to defend mifepristone in the face of mounting abortion bans and restrictions enacted by Republican-led states since the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized the procedure nationwide. Alito authored that ruling.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 12 declined to block the curbs ordered by Kacsmaryk. The 5th Circuit did halt a part of Kacsmaryk’s order that would have suspended the FDA approval of the drug and effectively pull it off the market.
The Supreme Court had faced a self-imposed deadline to act by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Saturday before restrictions on access to mifepristone ordered Kacsmaryk would take effect.
“Although the court acted correctly in this instance, there is no question that reproductive rights are under attack,” said Rep. Mike Levin, a Democrat representing coastal North San Diego.
“What we know for certain is that conservative judges are intent on limiting women’s ability to make their own health care decisions,” Levin said in a statement. “I am determined to take legislative action to ensure all Americans continue to have safe access to lifesaving drugs, and have full autonomy over their bodies.”
Mifepristone is taken with another drug called misoprostol to perform medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of all U.S. abortions. The drug also has other uses, such as the management of miscarriages.
The administration and Danco told the justices in their filings that mifepristone might not be available for months if the restrictions were allowed to take effect.
Anti-abortion groups led by the recently formed Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and four anti-abortion doctors sued the FDA in November. The plaintiffs contend that the agency used an unlawful process to approve the drug, which they consider to be dangerous.
The FDA has called mifepristone safe and effective as demonstrated over decades of use by millions of Americans, adding that adverse effects are exceedingly rare.
A former Christian legal activist, Kacsmaryk had a long track record of opposing abortion before the U.S. Senate confirmed him in 2019 to a life-tenured position as a federal judge.
Since last year’s Supreme Court decision, 12 U.S. states have put in place outright bans while many others prohibit abortion after a certain length of pregnancy. The latest Republican-led move came in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis on April 13 signed a new law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Kacsmaryk’s decision conflicted with an order also issued on April 7 in a separate case from Washington state directing the FDA to keep mifepristone available in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins, of San Diego, called the decision “encouraging” in a statement Friday.
“I am hopeful that science will prevail, and a drug that has been used safely and effectively in the U.S. for more than 22 years will continue to be available nationwide,” Atkins said. “Today’s decision is a step in the right direction, but not a sign to become complacent.”
Updated at 5:25 p.m. April 21, 2023
Elizabeth Ireland contributed to this article.
