The US Supreme Court announced it will consider a case that could limit access to a key abortion drug.

It is the most significant reproductive rights case in the US since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which guaranteed women a right to an abortion.

A lower court ruling restricted access to mifepristone over safety concerns raised by anti-abortion groups.

It has been legal in the US for over 20 years and is used in most abortions.

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, will hear oral arguments early next year.

The battle over mifepristone is the newest frontier in the abortion debate, which has raged since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in a June 2022 decision.

Roe v Wade was a landmark 1973 ruling that guaranteed women across the country the right to an abortion up until the point of foetal viability, which is about 24 weeks.

Since that case was overturned a little over a year ago, a dozen states now ban or seriously restrict abortion. That has made abortion pills, which can be obtained via mail and taken at home, a focus for both abortion advocates and opponents.

Mifepristone is part of a two-pill regimen that is commonly used to end pregnancies that are still in their early weeks.

Decades of use and research has found that the combination is safe to use. Abortion pills are used in about half of abortions in the US. They are also commonly used in treating miscarriages.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved mifepristone in 2000, and decisions in 2016 and 2021 increased access to mifepristone by allowing them to be sent by mail.

Access to the drug was challenged by a group of anti-abortion doctors and activists known as the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. They brought a case in Amarillo, Texas that claimed the Food and Drug Administration did not properly consider safety concerns when it lifted some restrictions and approved mifepristone for use.

US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has shared anti-abortion views publicly, ruled in their favour in April and blocked the FDA's approval.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overruled part of Judge Kacsmaryk's decision, but allowed his restrictions on the FDA's expansions of mifepristone access to stand.

The Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone, Danco, have asked the US Supreme Court to reconsider the lower court's rulings.

"The loss of access to mifepristone would be damaging for women and healthcare providers around the Nation," the Justice Department wrote in its petition.

In its own filing, Danco questioned whether the lower courts had the authority to negate a federal agency's decision, and said the case raised serious constitutional questions of whether judges could "overrule agency decisions that they dislike".

Mifepristone has remained available in states where abortion is legal while the court cases play out.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by Kayla Epstein | BBC News, New York

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