The Supreme Court agreed this Wednesday, December 13, to rule on the restrictions imposed by a lower court on the abortion pill used in more than 50% of pregnancy terminations in the country, in the midst of an intense political battle over abortion in the country.
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This new chapter in the fight for reproductive rights is perhaps the most relevant case to reach the country's highest court since Supreme Court judges annulled the constitutional right to abortion in June of last year.
This Wednesday, December 13, it was learned that the Court will reopen the litigation, after the ruling of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Louisiana, ruled in favor of restricting the use of the medication. The process was on hold, waiting for the country's highest judicial body to decide whether it would take charge of the case, at the request of the Government of Democrat Joe Biden.
With this news, now the judges, six conservatives and three progressives, will hear the appeals of the President's Government and the manufacturer of mifepristone itself, who in the past have asked the high court to annul the ruling that would cut off access to the pill for mail and also called for restrictions to be imposed on its distribution, even in states where abortion remains legal.
The case is expected to be debated in 2024, between March and April, but it would not be until June of that same year that the judges would make a decision, which would coincide with the presidential and legislative campaign next year, in which it is expected that abortion is one of the central issues facing the elections.
I urged the Fifth Circuit to completely reverse this dangerous decision back in May, and I now urge the Supreme Court to protect patient access to mifepristone. The court can't topple an agency's science-based approval simply because they don't like it.https://t.co/xZT56rYVHu
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) December 13, 2023
The background of the legal swing
The entire judicial mess began when a federal judge in Texas, chosen by former Republican President Donald Trump and of Christian belief, limited the authorization to market mifepristone. A decision supported by the argument that the drug can endanger women's lives.
However, according to the United States Food and Drug Administration, with five deaths per million users, the country's drug regulator considers that it is a fairly safe pill, in addition to having recorded that its effectiveness is 95%.
How safe is the abortion pill mifepristone, at the center of debate in the US?
Mifepristone, manufactured by the pharmaceutical distributor Danco Laboratories located in New York, is one of the two drugs used in pharmacological abortions, which represent more than half of all abortions in the United States, even since 2000 it is estimated that more than 5 million people have agreed to terminate pregnancies using this pill.
The Biden Administration advocates for reproductive rights
In a statement, the White House said Biden was “firmly committed to defending women's ability to access reproductive care” and that mifepristone has been proven to be “safe and effective.”
“Across the country, we have seen unprecedented attacks on women's freedom to make their own health decisions,” the White House said. “No woman should be left without access to the health care she needs. This should not happen in America, period,” she added.
The president and Vice President Kamala Harris “remain firmly committed to championing women's access to reproductive health,” said spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.
As the Department of Justice continues defending the FDA's actions on mifepristone before the Supreme Court, President Biden and Vice President Harris remain firmly committed to defending women's ability to access reproductive care.
Full statement from @PressSec: pic.twitter.com/WCuT73skBS
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 13, 2023
The Government says it should be the Food and Drug Administration, which approved the drug more than 20 years ago, that decides whether or not mifepristone can be used.
The pill also has a long safety record and the FDA estimates that 5.6 million American women have used it to terminate pregnancies since it was approved in 2000.
In addition to that, after the Supreme Court's annulment of the historic Roe vs. Wade, more than a dozen states have banned abortion and it has been severely restricted in others.
Official polls show that a clear majority of Americans support continued access to safe abortion, even as conservative groups push to limit the procedure, or ban it entirely.
With AP and local media
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