The Supreme Court on Monday set a date for one of the highest-stakes and closest-watched cases of the term — announcing it will hear oral arguments on how patients can access mifepristone, the commonly used abortion pill, on March 26. Read more at Politico
The appeals court ruling under review “threatens to destabilize the pharmaceutical industry, which relies both on FDA’s ability to make predictive judgments and on courts not second-guessing those scientific judgments,” the lawyers wrote. Read more at NBC News
Doctors across the country told The 19th that they have struggled to stay on top of the latest developments in abortion lawsuits since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned federal abortion protections. That confusion, some said, could stop physicians even from providing legal pregnancy-related health care. Read more … Read more
People concerned about potential new abortion restrictions appear to be more likely to request abortion pills even if they’re not yet pregnant, according to a new analysis. Read more at National Public Radio, Inc.
The possibility of new executive-branch restrictions on abortion drugs, which are now used in a majority of all U.S. abortions, underscores the stakes over abortion in the 2024 presidential election. Even if Donald Trump or another Republican wins back the White House next year, they might not have enough votes in Congress to pass a … Read more
Whatever the court decides could have sweeping ramifications. While the pills will likely stay on the market, there could be some significant changes to access, even in states where abortion remains legal and protected. Read more at The Hill
US supreme court agrees to consider abortion pill access “You can’t just bring random lawsuits in court. You actually have to have been harmed by something,” said Greer Donley, an associate law professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. “That’s really what standing analysis is all about, to try to figure out if if … Read more
The hopes of some activists go further. Their ultimate aim in reviving the Comstock Act is to use it to shut down every abortion facility “in all 50 states,” Mark Lee Dickson, a Texas pastor and anti-abortion advocate, told me. Taken literally, Comstock could be applied to prevent the transport of all supplies related to … Read more
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. Read more at NBC News
“To navigate this patchwork of laws takes some delicacy,” said Droz Tragos. “And depending on where you live, depending on your identity, depending on the community that you’re in, people have different layers of safety, concern and risk. So everyone has to navigate this knowing their own circumstances.” Still, she and Plan C organizers remain … Read more
