Hundreds gathered again before the U.S. Supreme Court to protest a crucial abortion access case, less than two years after the conservative majority overturned Roe v Wade. Before the court was whether to roll back telemedicine access to mifepristone, an FDA-approved drug used in two-thirds of medication abortions last year in the U.S.
NJ Spotlight News spoke with several legal and other experts about the court’s deliberations inside and what’s at stake.
“When we always think about who is impacted, it’s always going to be people that are marginalized that couldn’t travel to access care and need the access to medication via telemedicine to be able to access abortion in their areas. And this ruling may prevent that from happening,” said Kristyn Brandi of Physicians for Reproductive Health in New Jersey.
Mifepristone has been approved by the FDA as safe and effective. During COVID-19, the FDA relaxed rules requiring in-office exams and made that permanent in 2021. But while mail orders soared, seven anti-abortion doctors sued, claiming that when patients who took the drug came into the ER with complications, it forced the doctors to provide abortion health care against their conscience.
“It’s the sort of complicity harm from being involved in an elected abortion, your honor,” argued the doctors’ attorney, Erin Morrow Hawley, to the court.
Attorneys for the FDA and drug maker Danco Labs argued that valid studies show a very small increase in complications. And several justices noted the law already offers individual doctors the right to refuse cases that violate their conscience.
“They’re saying, because we object to having to be forced to participate in this procedure, we’re seeking an order preventing anyone from having access to these drugs at all,” said Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. “And I guess I’m just trying to understand how they could possibly be entitled to that given the injury that they have alleged.”
Rutgers Law Attorney Kim Mutcherson watched the arguments that went for about 90 minutes, and said the court’s conservative justices continue to question the limits of federal agencies’ authority. But they said it got little traction today, and the focus remains on mifepristone
“This is a case about the FDA and the decisions that the FDA made, Mutcherson said. “We’re just arguing about whether we should roll back the changes that have been made over time to make it more accessible.
The legal case reverberates across political lines, as the the country heads towards a raucous election where the issue of abortion already tops many campaign debates. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) tweeted: “This Congress needs to act to protect the right of access to life-saving abortion, and if this Congress does not act, we must get new Congresspeople that will.”
The court is expected to rule on the case in June.
