The US Supreme Court on Friday temporarily preserved full access to an abortion pill widely used in the country, by suspending lower court rulings that imposed restrictions on the use of the drug.
The country’s highest court issued an “administrative stay” until Wednesday to allow the parties to present their arguments, in the latest volley in the US battle for reproductive rights.
The decision takes place after Democrat Joe Biden’s administration will urgently request the Supreme Court to block the decisions of lower courts that would have prohibited or limited the use of the drug mifepristone from 05:00 GMT on Saturday.
The order gives the Supreme Court time to decide the next steps in the case.
Signed by Judge Samuel Alito, author of the ruling that last year revoked the constitutional right to abortion, the postponement asks the parties to present their briefs before Tuesday.
In its emergency appeal, the Justice Department argued that the lower court rulings “will disrupt the complex regulatory regime governing mifepristone.” “
Such a disruptive outcome would profoundly harm women, the nation’s health care system, the FDA (the US drug regulatory agency) and the public interest,” he said.
In combination with another drug, mifepristone is used for more than half of all abortions in the United States, and more than 5 million women in the country have taken it since it was approved by the FDA in 2000.
The escalation of the legal battle began on April 7, when a federal judge in Texas, Matthew Kacsmaryk, ordered a national ban on mifepristone following a lawsuit from a coalition of anti-abortion groups challenging the drug’s FDA approval.
On April 12, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit partially reversed Kacsmaryk’s decision. He said mifepristone, also known as RU 486, should remain available pending a hearing on the matter. But it limited its access to the first seven weeks of pregnancy, instead of 10, and prevented distribution by mail.
The Justice Department said that the initial ruling by Kacsmaryk, appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump, was based on a “profoundly flawed assessment of the safety of mifepristone” and also took issue with the Fifth Circuit’s decision.
In its application, the government asked the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to “preserve the status quo” pending an examination of the merits, or to deal with the case in an “expedited” manner and hear the arguments before the boreal summer recess, which begins at the end of June.
AFP
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