Conservative SCOTUS justice restores access to abortion drug — for now

Pro-life advocates were handed a minor blow by the Supreme Court after access to an abortion drug was restored by a conservative justice.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals originally ordered a halt to the sale of mifepristone, but on Monday Justice Samuel Alito blocked the order and restored access.

'This is NOT a reversal of Friday's decision. Rather, it's the run-of-the-mill pause that the Justices typically use to consider the issues.'

Pro-life activists have sought the restriction of the drug based on safety concerns and claim the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rushed its approval in 2000 and then proceeded to relax restrictions on it.

Alito halted the ban through May 11 so the court can consider the issue fully. Alito's intervention restores access to the drug by mail after a telehealth appointment.

The Fifth Circuit panel had found that the drug "injures Louisiana by undermining its laws protecting unborn human life and also by causing it to spend Medicaid funds on emergency care for women harmed by mifepristone."

"Mifepristone sends 1 in 10 women who use it to the emergency room with life threatening conditions. Now it’s time for Congress to ban it completely for use in abortion," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said in a post on social media on Monday.

Critics say the 1 in 10 figure comes from a conservative think tank and misrepresents the full data available on mifepristone.

"To be clear: This is NOT a reversal of Friday's decision. Rather, it's the run-of-the-mill pause that the Justices typically use to consider the issues raised in an emergency application," reads a statement from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious freedom legal nonprofit.

"We respect the Court's desire to have time to consider the issues and will continue our fight to uphold this victory that protects women and babies across the country from FDA's unlawful and destructive mail-order abortion-drug scheme," the nonprofit added.

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The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2024 against a lawsuit intending to block mifepristone access on the basis that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue the FDA.

Alito had also previously dissented against the majority ruling in 2023 to allow access to mifepristone while the case continued.

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