WASHINGTON — Access to abortion takes center stage at the Supreme Court Tuesday for the first time since the high court ended national protections for abortion and allowed states to make their own laws in 2022.
The justices heard oral arguments on whether the FDA overstepped its authority when giving more people access to the so-called abortion drug mifepristone. Protestors gathered outside the Supreme Court Tuesday morning chanting and waving signs for the biggest day since the Dobbs decision to end protections for abortion nationwide.
This time, a group of pro-life medical organizations that make up the Alliance of Hippocratic Medicine is arguing the Food and Drug Administration is putting lives at risk by expanding access to the drug mifepristone.
“The FDA has undermined the safety of women's health when they removed the safeguards that were in place for chemical abortion,” said Felipe Avila who represents the National Association of Pro-Life Nurses, a member of the Alliance.
The drug, approved in the U.S. in 2000, is the most commonly used medication for at-home abortions. In 2016, the FDA extended the use from seven to ten weeks of pregnancy. During the pandemic, it allowed people to get the pill through telehealth appointments or mail-order pharmacies.
Erin Hawley from the Alliance for Defending Freedom presented oral arguments in court.
“In 2021, it eliminated the initial in-person visit based on data it says elsewhere is unreliable," said Hawley.
“Our health care professionals and nurses are seeing women coming into the emergency room and hospital hemorrhaging, bleeding out,” added Avila.
However, according to the FDA, less than 1% of people experience problems.
“An organization of doctors that have never prescribed mifepristone, they have never been harmed by mifepristone, so this is a baseless case,” said Skye Perryman President and CEO of Democracy Forward.
“It’s really important we look at this as a health equity issue,” said Christian F. Nunes President of the National Organization for Women.
The government argues the case has no legal standing and is another attempt to restrict abortion. Some justices expressed concern about undermining the FDA's authority.
“Is it the only time any court has restricted access to an FDA-approved drug by second-guessing FDA's expert judgment?” asked Justice Elena Kagan.
“This is a slippery slope to interfere ideology and politics to interfere with science and medicine,” said Deirdre Schifeling Chief Political and Advocacy Officer for the ACLU. “If the Supreme Court rules to allow these anti-abortion extremists to restrict medication abortion with no science or no evidence it opens the door for all kinds of medicine to be restricted by any group that happens to disagree with them, for instance, vaccine, birth control, gender-affirming case you name it.”
“Mifepristone has been used safely by millions of people worldwide over the past 36 years,” said Dr. Suzanne Bell from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
If the Justices roll back the use of mifepristone, it could still be used up to seven weeks of pregnancy but would be harder to access through the mail or telehealth appointments. A decision is expected in July.
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