The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to preserve access to the abortion pill mifepristone, a pill used in the most common way to end a pregnancy.
The justices ruled that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and the FDA’s subsequent actions to ease access to it.
The case had threatened to restrict access to mifepristone across the country, including in states where abortion remains legal.
When the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the case in March, the safety of mifepristone was at the heart of the debate.
There are rare occasions when mifepristone can cause dangerous, excessive bleeding that requires emergency care. Because of that, the FDA imposed strict safety limits on who could prescribe and distribute it.
The doctors also had to be capable of performing emergency surgery to stop excess bleeding and an abortion procedure if the drug didn’t end the pregnancy. Over the years, the FDA reaffirmed mifepristone’s safety and repeatedly eased restrictions, culminating in a 2021 decision doing away with any in-person requirements and allowing the pill to be sent through the mail.
Mifepristone is regularly used for patients who are experiencing pregnancy loss.
Mifepristone is used “off label” to treat early pregnancy losses or help the delivery of a fetus that has died later in pregnancy. A million U.S. women a year suffer miscarriages, a problem that occurs in at least 15% of known pregnancies.
