Boxes of mifepristone on a counter, March 16, 2022. ALLEN G. BREED/AP
In a long-awaited decision in the United States, announced on Friday, April 21, the US Supreme Court ruled that access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which is used for more than half of the abortions in the country, will be suspended for the time being to maintain and suspend the restrictions decided by lower courts. Only two conservative judges on the court, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, voiced their disagreement with the decision of the majority of the college’s nine judges.
The higher regional court should decide on Wednesday fate of the abortion pill in the country, but she had delayed her decision by two days, temporarily extending full access to the stamp.
Notably, Friday’s decision blocked the ruling of a federal judge in Texas, known for his Christian faith, ultra-conservative positions, and appointed by Donald Trump, who on April 7 withdrew marketing approval for mifepristone after it was seized by anti-abortion advocates . Despite the scientific consensus, he believed it posed risks to women’s health.
Notably, the Supreme Court’s conservative-majority ruling means that measures put in place to facilitate access to mifepristone – including receiving it by post – will remain in place while appeals are reviewed, which could take months. .
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US President Joe Biden has vowed to continue fighting “political attacks on women’s health” after Friday’s Supreme Court ruling pending a decision on the merits of the case. “The stakes couldn’t be higher for women across America,” Biden added in a statement.
“Good news, but…”
It is the most important Supreme Court decision on abortion since it overturned the constitutional abortion guarantee in June 2022. Less than a year later, she had been urgently seized by the Joe Biden administration after conflicting court rulings on nationwide access to abortion. Mifepristone. In combination with another drug, mifepristone has been used by more than five million American women since it was approved by the FDA more than twenty years ago.
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Following the Texas Magistrate’s ruling, an appeals court appealed to by the federal government allowed the abortion pill to remain approved, but by restricting access that the FDA has allowed over the years. His ruling amounted to banning the shipment of mifepristone and returning to use limited to seven weeks’ gestation instead of ten.
The federal government then rushed to the Supreme Court. The latter temporarily maintained access to the abortion pill on April 14, suspending the Court of Appeal’s decision to allow more time to consider the case.
The first American family planning organization has welcomed the temporary retention of the abortion pill. “That’s good news, but the facts remain the same: access to mifepristone should not have been threatened in the first place.” Planned Parenthood responded on Twitter.
The next step in the case will be a May 17 hearing in a federal appeals court in New Orleans.
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