A U.S. appeals court has ruled in favor of restricting access to the abortion pill mifepristone, ordering a halt to telemedicine prescriptions and mail shipments of the drug. However, this decision will not be immediately enforced.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, stopped short of completely removing the drug from the market, as a lower court had suggested.
The U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson stated that the Biden administration intends to appeal this ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, supports abortion rights and last year directed the federal health agency to expand access to mifepristone.
The ruling will remain pending until the Supreme Court reviews it, which could happen in the next term from October to June.
The decision originated from a lawsuit initiated by four anti-abortion groups led by the newly established Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and four anti-abortion doctors who sued in November.
Their argument is that the FDA used an improper process when approving mifepristone in 2000 and did not adequately consider the drug’s safety for minors.
Erin Hawley of Alliance Defending Freedom, a lawyer for the anti-abortion groups challenging the pill’s approval, stated, “The 5th Circuit rightly required the FDA to do its job and restore crucial safeguards for women and girls, including ending illegal mail-order abortions.”
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of the abortion rights group Planned Parenthood Federation of America, commented that this decision “indicates that mifepristone’s approval is still at risk, as is the FDA’s independence.”
GenBioPro Inc, a company that sells a generic version of mifepristone, expressed concerns about attempts to undermine science, access to evidence-based medication, and the authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration through legal actions.
The appeals court panel consisted of three conservative judges, all known for opposing abortion rights. While one of them favored removing mifepristone from the market, the other two judges deemed the lawsuit too late to challenge the original 2000 approval.
Instead, the majority of the panel reversed recent FDA actions that had made the drug more accessible. These changes included allowing telemedicine prescriptions and mail shipments in 2021 and extending its use to 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2016.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion nationwide last year. Since then, at least 15 states out of 50 have banned abortion entirely, while others restrict it after a specific gestational period.
Mifepristone, combined with misoprostol, constitutes a two-drug regimen for medication abortions, which make up over half of U.S. abortions. Multiple studies and years of real-world application have confirmed the drug’s safety and effectiveness.
Prominent medical associations, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, argue that removing mifepristone from the market would harm patients by forcing them into more invasive surgical procedures.
