In a huge blow for the pro-life movement, the U.S. Supreme Court today unanimously rejected a lawsuit aimed at restricting access to abortion pill mifepristone, meaning the drug can remain nationally available.
Limiting access to the pill was a priority for pro-life advocates, considering the number of abortions has actually increased since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. That increase is largely due to the availability of mifepristone, even in states that have largely banned other abortion options.
The court voted 9-0 that the group of doctors who challenged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision to make the pill more easily accessible did not have the proper legal standing to sue.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that while the doctors have “sincere legal, moral, ideological and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA’s relaxed regulation of mifepristone,” that doesn’t mean they have a federal case. Instead, the court wrote that the plaintiffs should use other channels to challenge the FDA’s decision.
“The plaintiffs may present their concerns and objections to the president and FDA in the regulatory process or to Congress and the president in the legislative process,” Kavanaugh wrote. “And they may also express their views about abortion and mifepristone to fellow citizens, including in the political and electoral processes.”
The case was brought forth by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a conservative group of doctors and medical professionals. Over the last several years, the FDA has allowed mifepristone to be prescribed online, mailed to patients and dispensed at physical pharmacies. Mifepristone is used as part of a two-drug FDA-approved regimen that is now the most common form of abortion in the United States. The use of abortion pills has increased by 60% since 2022 as the FDA’s policy has helped it become easily accessible and cheaper than surgical abortions.
Access to abortion pills is believed to be the primary factor in the continued rise of abortions. Reports found that an estimated 1,026,690 abortions were performed in 2023 — a 10% increase from 2020, the last year for which comprehensive estimates are available.
Katie Daniel, the state policy director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said, “It is a sad day for all who value women’s health and unborn children’s lives, but the fight to stop dangerous mail-order abortion drugs is not over.”
