Credit: (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)The U.S. Supreme Court allowed access to the most common method of abortion, the drug mifepristone, in a ruling Friday, according to The Associated Press.
The drugmaker, Danco Laboratories, along with the Biden administration, asked the court to halt a federal judge’s decision to rescind the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug.
The medication has been in use since 2000, and more that 5 million people have taken it, according to the AP.
It is likely to still be available while the appeals continue, a process that could take some time.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted to allow restrictions to take effect, according to the AP. The court’s seven other justices did not comment.
The court had been expected to announce its decision Wednesday but gave itself until Friday to act on the emergency request for a stay.
“I am relieved that the U.S. Supreme Court has intervened to block a lower court decision that would have cut off access to medication abortion nationwide,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement shortly after the decision was announced.
“For more than two decades, millions of women have safely and effectively used this medicine. In contrast, efforts to eliminate it from the market would only compel women to risk their lives by seeking out unsafe abortion care. While proponents of these senseless attacks on our reproductive rights will undoubtedly persist in their extremism, New Jersey stands firmly prepared to continue to protect access to abortion and every New Jerseyan’s right to make decisions about their own health care.”
