The
Supreme Court
is slated to rule Wednesday on whether to allow a previous decision from an appeals court to take effect, which drastically limited access to a common
abortion
pill nationwide.
Less than a year after the high court voted to overturn
Roe v. Wade
by allowing states to impose strict abortion limits, it must now decide a case that stemmed from a lone district court judge’s decision to overturn the government’s approval of the drug mifepristone.
As of Wednesday, mifepristone is lawful and remains available in some form in 37 states, even some with abortion restrictions. The Supreme Court on April 14
paused
the ruling from a federal judge in Texas that invalidated the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of the pill, temporarily restoring full access to mifepristone while it reviews the ruling from District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE AND GOP LAWMAKERS ENTER SUPREME COURT CASE ON ABORTION PILL
The Justice Department submitted a filing to the high court
after
several anti-abortion rights groups filed briefs on Tuesday asking the high court to keep in place restrictions on the drug.
The DOJ said that without Supreme Court intervention, it would disrupt the FDA’s regulatory regime, cease approval of the generic version of the drug, and force changes to the drug’s labeling and other regulatory factors.
The litigation fight over the drug stems from Kacsmaryk’s April 7
order
, in which he sided with doctors opposed to abortion who claimed the FDA did not evaluate the psychological or long-term medical consequences of the pill, which the agency had deemed safe and effective.
The decision was subsequently appealed to the Louisiana-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit by the Justice Department, which
ruled
on April 13 to freeze part of Kacsmaryk’s order against a nationwide halt of the drug.
Justice Samuel Alito, who oversees matters stemming from the 5th Circuit, issued an administrative stay of the district court’s ruling on April 14 to give more time for the full court to consider the matter. Alito’s response came after an emergency
appeal
by the Biden administration and the drug’s
manufacturer
, Danco.
Meanwhile, a separate district court ruling that was issued less than an hour after Kacsmaryk’s initial decision complicated the matter with a conflicting decision. Washington-based District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, blocked the FDA from limiting the availability of mifepristone in much of the country.
That ruling, also issued April 7, applies to just 17 liberal-leaning states and Washington, D.C., which filed a lawsuit in February challenging the FDA’s regulations over the drug.
The Supreme Court is slated to act by midnight Wednesday, though it’s not clear how the justices will decide this matter shortly after Alito blocked the appeals court decision from taking effect.
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Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said it’s hard to tell how the court could act but said “it’s possible” the court could grant an extension of the administrative stay to maintain the status quo until it establishes a proper time to weigh the merits of the case.
“I think that’s perfectly logical, but whether that will happen, I just don’t know,” Tobias said. “But I kind of hope that there just isn’t a vote or something that doesn’t tell us anything.”
