The Supreme Court Tuesday sounded skeptical about an arch-conservative effort to ban a commonly used abortion medication in the biggest reproductive rights case since its unpopular decision to overturn the landmark pro-choice Roe v. Wade decision.
Several justices on both sides of the political divide questioned whether an anti-abortion medical group can sue to bar mifepristone, a drug used in about two-thirds of all American abortions.
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch suggested he does not believe the pro-life doctors justified their push for a nationwide ban on the abortion pill, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration decades ago.
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Erin Schaff/AP U.S Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch. (Erin Schaff/AP)
Only right-wing justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas signaled they were prepared to support the ban, although oral arguments do not always reflect how decisions wind up.
The explosive case engineered by an anti-abortion group marks a major new effort to restrict reproductive rights and could spark a new political firestorm as the 2024 presidential and congressional election looms. The court is likely to issue a ruling in the summer.
The consequences of an abortion pill ban would be dramatic and would affect women nationwide including in blue states like New York that have sought to protect abortion rights after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
The ruling could ban American women from obtaining mifepristone through the mail and at large pharmacy chains. It would also ban its use after seven weeks of pregnancy and bar it from being prescribed in virtual telehealth visits.
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Mark Tenally/AP In this Jan. 27, 2020 photo, the Supreme Court is seen in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Mark Tenally)
The Biden administration and drugmaker Danco Laboratories, which makes mifepristone, counter that the drug is among the safest the FDA has ever approved.
The White House and drug manufacturers also warn that allowing judges to second the Food and Drug Administration’s scientific judgments would dramatically harm the entire pharmaceutical industry by undermining the U.S. drug-approval process.
Underlining the potential explosive political impact, hundreds of protesters on both side of the abortion rights issue gathered outside the court building in downtown Washington, D.C.
Democrats and liberal candidates have repeatedly won elections in which abortion rights was a major issue, including statewide referendums in red states like Kansas and Ohio.
Biden’s reelection campaign plans to focus on abortion rights in his battle against former President Donald Trump, who brags of appointing three of the pro-life Supreme Court justices who ruled against Roe v. Wade.
The conservative group that objects to mifepristone case initially won a sweeping ruling nearly a year ago from U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a fierce abortion opponent, that would have reversed the FDA’s approval of mifepristone altogether.
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Allen G. Breed/AP Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)
The ruling was cut back a bit by the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, setting the stage for the Supreme Court to hear the case.
Mifepristone is one of two drugs commonly used in medication abortions. Their numbers have been rising for years. More than 6 million people have used mifepristone since 2000 with no major medical issues.
Health care providers have said that if mifepristone is no longer available or is too hard to obtain, they would switch to using only misoprostol, which is less effective in ending pregnancies.
