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The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court order imposing restrictions on the widely used abortion drug mifepristone, pending a legal challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s authority, allowing medical abortions to continue. maintained the status quo for the most common form of
Important reasons: The decision forestalled an unprecedented court-ordered withdrawal of FDA authority and, at least temporarily, settled a legal conflict arising from conflicting orders issued by separate federal courts on abortion drugs.
Big picture: Orders of the US District Court for the District of Texas and the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit have reimposed restrictions on mifepristone that the FDA has been gradually removing over the years.
- but A federal court in Washington ruled in a lawsuit filed by a Democratic state attorney general that the FDA cannot roll back access to mifepristone in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
- The restrictions, which are set to go into effect on Saturday, are to “upend the status quo based on the status quo. [Texas] The court’s grossly erroneous assessment of the safety of mifepristone,” the Department of Justice appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday.
- Danko Laboratories, maker of the brand-name version of Mifepristone, also filed an emergency petition in the Superior Court seeking to stay the Texas and Fifth Circuit orders, “creating regulatory chaos across the country. caused it,” he claimed.
detail: without giving an opinion Judge Samuel Alito has ordered the lower court’s ruling to be stayed until next Wednesday, April 19.
- Access to mifepristone for medical abortion remains unchanged, at least until then.
- Alito also ordered the anti-abortion group that originally filed the lawsuit to respond to a Justice Department appeal by Tuesday.
What they say: “The entry of short-term administrative stays is standard operating procedure whenever the Supreme Court is asked to consider such urgent requests,” said Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents anti-abortion groups. Senior Counsel Erin Hawley said.
- “We’ll give the court enough time to consider the parties’ arguments before making a decision,” Hawley said, adding that the group looks forward to submitting a response.
What we see: This order is not the court’s final decision, and another may be issued sometime next week after the anti-abortion group’s response is filed.
Line spacing: Friday’s ruling came less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
- In his Dobbs opinion overturning Roe’s ruling, Alito added that courts cannot regulate abortion and that power rests with “the people and their elected representatives.”
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed, saying the court “had no constitutional authority.” […] Declare a pro-abortion or pro-choice abortion policy for all 330 million Americans. ”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with additional details throughout.
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