Supreme Court justices were scheduled on Friday to discuss whether to take up a high-stakes legal fight that could result in a definitive decision on federal approval of the drug most commonly used for medication abortion.
At their regular private meeting, the nine justices were due to consider three different appeals raising different legal issues, including one filed by those challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s original 2000 approval of the mifepristone pill.
The two other appeals, brought by the Biden administration and drugmaker Danco Laboratories, are seeking to uphold decisions by the FDA that made it easier to access and use the pill in recent years. Danco makes the brand version of the pill, Mifeprex.
Even the court’s decision on whether to take up the appeals is of practical importance because if the justices decide not to intervene in the ongoing litigation, an appeals court ruling that limited the availability of the drug by mail would go into effect.
The court later on Friday announced it was hearing one new case but the abortion cases were not mentioned. The court could next act on Monday or later next week.
In weighing the three appeals, the justices could choose to hear a broad challenge that addresses the 2000 FDA approval or focus only on more recent changes, including a 2021 decision that made it possible to access the pill by mail….
From NBC News
The Supreme Court should make it as difficult as they can to access this abortion pill. End abortion now!
The only competent jurists on the Court are the Republican nominees.
Two different thoughts: 1) Members of the Supreme Court should not be partisan or thought of as partisan. I know that this is ideal, but it must be that way if we are to preserve our nation as a nation of laws; 2) the case before the court includes two significant issues – the abortion pill, and the FDA’s ability to certify the use of drugs in humans. Both are important. Our country’s processes and agencies that research and approve drugs are considered the gold standard for the world. If we lose that part of the case, we being the U.S. citizens, it will throw the entire pharmaceutical industry into turmoil. What company would want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to research and test new drugs if, once licensed for use, that license could be revoked on the whim of a few discontents? The case is a two-edged sword.
You don’t understand the case. The suit is because the Biden administration violated FDA procedures and the law by changing the FDA’s original conditions for prescribing mifepristone. Specifically, the Biden administration waived the requirement for an in-person prescription and extended the allowable term for the drug’s use from 7 to 10 weeks of pregnancy. All of that without a proper clinical trial. The case is not about whether mifepristone will be authorized for use; it’s about whether the federal government may, through executive action, unilaterally and arbitrarily alter the conditions under which an FDA approved drug may be prescribed and used.
I do understand the case. First, it is not the Biden administration we are talking about, it is the FDA. The FDA has always been the gold standard for approving drugs and how they are used. Nations and our doctors rely on their findings to administer drugs. The FDA has been the judge of when and how drugs are used. It changes its rulings and advice as the science changes. Every change does not involve massive time and expense of testing for minor changes. There is no question but that this case is about abortion, not the FDA process. Some fancy lawyer is using the approval process as a means to end abortion. I’m all in favor of ending convenience abortions, but this case isn’t about that.
The Biden administration’s actions will be overturned by the court. Here’s how they will vote:
Sotomayor: no
Kagan: no
Jackson: no
Roberts: no
Thomas: yes
Alito: yes
Gorsuch: yes
Kavanough: yes
Barrett: yes
The Court will hold that it is illegal for the executive branch to change at will the conditions under which a drug may be prescribed and used without adhering to established procedures for testing and approval.