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By Daniela Torres
April 23, 2023 (San Diego) - Mifepristone, an abortion pill, will continue to remain available nationwide while a legal battle continues in court, after the Supreme Court issued a stay on a lower court ruling that would have banned the medication nationwide.
On May 21, the Supreme Court issued the decision to allow mifepristone to remain on the market. Justice Samuel Alito dissented and Justice Clarence Thomas denied applications for stays. Justice Alito states in his dissent that the “granting of a stay of a lower-court decision is an equitable remedy.”
The action comes after the U.S. Justice Department and Danco Laboratories filed an emergency request to delay a Texas judge’s ruling that the FDA improperly approved mifepristone decades ago. As a result, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ordered a temporary hold on the ruling until the full Supreme Court issued the stay.
“A stay decidedly serves multiple aspects of the public interest, including: the biopharmaceutical industry, other regulated entities that touch medication abortion, the States and the separation-of-powers, women, and the healthcare system,” stated pharmaceutical firm Danco in its request.
An anti-abortion coalition urged the Supreme Court to allow the ruling that would withdraw approval from abortion drug, mifepristone. In Danco Laboratories v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the group claims that the FDA and Danco Laboratories have “flouted the law and applicable regulations, disregarded holes and red flags in their own safety data, intentionally evaded judicial review, and continually placed politics above women’s health.”
“We will work to safeguard personal medical decisions that should be made by patients in consultation with their health care providers, not ideologically driven lawmakers or judges without medical or scientific training.” says Donaldo Hernandez, M.D., the president of the California Medical Association (CMA), in a press statement.
Following the Supreme Court decision, Governor Newsom has announced new efforts to:
- Protect all portions of the Mifepristone supply chain within California;
- Protect California pharmacists dispensing Mifepristone regardless of FDA approval;
- Protect private health information collected in California from being used against patients, including by hostile out-of-state actors.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will now be handling the case. An oral argument is scheduled for May 17. A three-judge panel will then decide on whether to restrict or ban mifepristone. This decision can then be appealed and possibly be taken back to the Supreme Court.
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