The US Supreme Court has intervened in the dispute over the abortion pill mifepristone. The drug will continue to be available for the time being until Wednesday.
The US Supreme Court has temporarily allowed access to the abortion pill mifepristone. The decision, made Friday after an 11-hour session, will temporarily suspend court rulings that restricted access to the pill until midnight local time next Wednesday. On Wednesday, the federal appeals court in New Orleans, Louisiana, tightened the conditions under which the drug may be prescribed.
The appeals court’s decision was by a majority of two to one judge. The panel of judges overturned a previous decision by a federal judge in Texas to completely revoke mifepristone’s approval.
Conservative camp has majority on Supreme Court
The US government then submitted an emergency motion to the Supreme Court to overturn the effect of restrictive judgments. In its filing, the Justice Department argued that the rulings would “thwart the complex regulatory framework governing mifepristone,” deeply harming women, the nation’s healthcare system, the FDA, and the public interest.
In the Washington Supreme Court decision, now signed by Judge Samuel Alito, the parties are asked to submit their briefs by next Tuesday.
On the US Supreme Court, the conservative camp has a clear majority of six of the nine judges after several replacements during the tenure of ex-US President Donald Trump. Abortion rights are one of the most controversial socio-political issues in the United States. Last June, the Supreme Court abolished the country’s fundamental right to abortion – a ruling that triggered a political earthquake.
Religious rightists and Republicans want to make abortion more difficult
Mifepristone, known in Germany under the trade name Mifegyne, is used in more than every second abortion in the USA. According to the FDA, more than 5.6 million women have used the pill since it was approved in 2000. In less than 1,500 cases there were complications without a link to mifepristone being established.
Abortion opponents had sued in Texas against the approval – they want to make access to medical abortion more difficult. In particular, the religious right and large sections of the Republican Party have been trying to curtail abortion rights in the USA for decades. Last year, the right-wing Supreme Court overturned the country’s abortion law, which had been in effect for almost 50 years. According to surveys, a majority of the population supports this right.
