Supreme Court Lets Abortion Pill Mifepristone Stay on the Market

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the widely used abortion pill mifepristone to remain on the market indefinitely, granting emergency requests from the Biden administration and the brand-name manufacturer of the drug.

The high court blocked the effect of a lower-court order that was poised to limit access to the pill, which is used in more than half of U.S. abortions. The Supreme Court’s action was not a decision on the merits of the case; instead the justices were deciding whether the pill could remain available during an ongoing legal challenge brought by antiabortion groups.

Medical associations and individual doctors that oppose abortion sued the Food and Drug Administration in November, contesting the agency’s initial approval of the pill, as well as more recent regulations that made the drug easier to obtain.

The case has moved rapidly from a courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, where a U.S. District Court judge appointed by former President Donald Trump suspended the pill’s approval, to the high court in a matter of weeks. In between, the New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed the Texas judge’s injunction somewhat but ordered the FDA to reimpose a pre-2016 regimen for administering the drug. That included limiting its use to the earliest weeks of pregnancy, requiring three doctor’s visits, precluding mailing pills to patients and reintroducing a higher dosage than what is now used.

The Supreme Court’s order negated those limits and preserved the status quo while litigation continues, which could be for many months.

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