The United States High Court held a hearing on mifepristone, a substance used in abortion pills, on Tuesday, and the judges mostly leaned toward not restricting its use, in the most important abortion case that has ever had the most court since overturning 'Roe vs Wade' in 2022. The final court ruling will come in June.
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Although the Supreme Court has a conservative majority and was the body that eliminated the constitutional protection of abortion almost two years ago, today it showed its reluctance to believe that the anti-abortion medical association Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine has demonstrated that it suffered the type of damage that gives you the right to sue.
During the almost two hours that oral arguments lasted, the Government and the pharmaceutical company 'GenBioPro' emphasized its safety and thus rejected the arguments of Erin Hawley, a lawyer for the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, that the substance is dangerous.
A view rejected by multiple studies that have shown that the substance, used in the majority of abortions in the United States, is safe.
The judges –whose decision will be known at the end of June or beginning of July– are examining whether regulatory changes made in 2016 and 2021 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that made the drug available by mail and prescribed by a health care provider who did not It has to be a doctor.
Judge Samuel Alito, who was precisely the one who wrote the 2022 decision that overturned 'Roe vs Wade', was one of those who today showed his dissatisfaction with the Joe Biden administration's argument that doctors do not have the legal right or the “legitimacy” to sue.
“Is there anyone who can sue and get a court ruling on whether what the FDA did was legal? Maybe what they did was perfectly legal. But shouldn't someone be able to challenge that in court?” the conservative asked.
But there were more who expressed doubts. Fellow conservative Neil M. Gorsuch described this case as “an excellent example of turning what could be a small legislative lawsuit” into a “nationwide case over FDA approval.”
Why is this case so relevant?
It has been almost two years since the Supreme Court struck down the 'Roe vs. Wade' doctrine that had protected abortion nationwide for decades. Since then, two dozen states have restricted or banned abortion and therefore 'teleabortion' has been the solution for millions of women in the country.
A court decision restricting mifepristone would affect providers in all states, including those where abortion remains legal. It would also make the aforementioned procedure difficult, by which women receive abortion pills by mail and are treated by doctors electronically.
And it could call into question the FDA's ability to approve and distribute other drugs.
This case was filed in November 2022, after a group of anti-abortion doctors and medical organizations sued the FDA.
The coalition filed the challenge in Amarillo, Texas, and Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee and vocal opponent of abortion, issued a preliminary ruling invalidating the drug's approval and removing the pill from the market.
In August 2023, three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country, ruled that mifepristone should remain legal but imposed significant access restrictions, which are now in place. in the air, awaiting the Supreme Court's decision.
What is mifepristone?
Mifepristone is one of two medications used in a medical abortion and is combined with misoprostol to terminate a pregnancy.
It blocks progesterone, a hormone necessary for pregnancy to continue, while misoprostol causes uterine contractions, which causes the body to expel the fetus.
Numerous studies indicate that the combination of these pills causes a complete abortion in more than 99% of patients.
The Planned Parenthood organization recalled this Tuesday in a statement that mifepristone is “safe and effective, with or without a visit to a health center” and that it has been used by more than five million people in the United States for more than 23 years. .
In the opinion of Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the organization, this case is an example that “those who oppose abortion remain committed” to controlling women's bodies by “banning abortion throughout the country.”
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