In a unanimous decision on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court maintained access to the abortion pill mifepristone and rejected a lawsuit brought by a group of doctors who had challenged the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication.
NJ Spotlight News spoke with Rutgers law professor Kim Mutcherson about the implications of the ruling and the all-but-guaranteed challenge to come from new plaintiffs.
“It’s 100% likely,” Mutcherson said. “We know that 60% plus of abortions in this country are medication abortions at this point. And so if you are part of an organization of folks who are trying to make it impossible, or much more difficult, to get an abortion in the U.S., then you have to attack medicated abortion.”
But for now, the ruling means the pill, which last year was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S., will remain widely available to the public, including by mail. The case also puts abortion access back in the spotlight for the first time since the court’s conservative majority voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.
In writing the opinion for the court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said while plaintiffs have “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections” to abortion and the FDA’s regulations of it, “the federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.”
