The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that access to the abortion pill, Mifepristone, should be restricted potentially affecting countless women around the country
The ongoing legal fight centres on the FDA-approved drug Mifepristone. Opposing groups challenged past policies that made the drug more accessible and have been calling for a reversal.
20 years of accessible Mifepristone about to change
Actions the federal government has taken since 2016 have allowed the pill to be widely accessed, including online ordering, mail delivery and pharmacy dispensing of the drug, massively improving women’s access to healthcare.
The Guardian reported that a panel of conservative judges said that the decision the FDA approved,
“Allowing easy access to the pill was unlawful”- Conservative Judge
The federal appeal that took place on Wednesday, 16th of August, sought to reverse access to the pill and re-enforce the requirement that only physicians can prescribe the pill.
Regardless of the court’s ruling, there will be no immediate impact on access to Mifepristone until the Supreme Court revisit the issue, likely to be in 2024 or 2025.
This small court ruling, although won’t make major changes to abortion pill access, the endorsement to limit it may pose a future threat and could influence future Supreme Court rulings.
Abortion pill access supported by both the FDA and the Department of Justice
“The Department strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA and will be seeking Supreme Court review of that decision,” a spokesperson for the DoJ said.
The Department has confirmed it will continue to support the FDA’s judgement on making the pill more accessible to Americans.
The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a coalition of anti-abortion groups that formed in Texas last year, challenged the original approval of mifepristone in 2000. The groups argued they did not properly consider the safety risks of the drugs.
Erin Hawley, the lead attorney on the case, said she was “very pleased” that the court “rightly required the FDA to do its job and to restore crucial safeguards for women and girls.”
Hawley hopes the decision will discourage the use of the pill, saying it; “gives women a reason to think twice about taking mifepristone unsupervised.”
As the USA is seeing an increase in anti-abortion mentality, only time will tell whether the US government and it’s pro ‘planned parenthood’ President will enforce more changes to abortion pill access.
