Supreme Court postpones ruling on mifepristone until Wednesday; what happens then?
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued a temporary motion that puts off a lower court ruling that would impose restrictions on mifepristone, a commonly used abortion pill, The Washington Post reported.
The extension was filed by Associate Justice Samuel Alito and is meant to give the Supreme Court until 11:59 p.m. EDT Wednesday to issue an order.
The Supreme Court was asked to consider a stay of an order issued by Texas-based U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that would pull the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, The New York Times reported.
Hours after Kacsmaryk’s ruling, another district court judge in Washington issued a competing ruling that upheld the FDA’s approval of the drug.
The ruling concerns a medical abortion which is a two-drug regimen that uses mifepristone followed by a second drug, misoprostol, used to terminate a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks.
Medical abortions account for more than half of all U.S. abortions.
The Texas ruling came after the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year claiming the agency approved mifepristone for abortion in 2000 using an unlawful process and did not adequately consider the drug’s safety going forward.
Kacsmaryk’s ruling – a preliminary injunction – effectively would have pulled the drug off the market while the lawsuit went forward. Kacsmaryk’s ruling allowed a week for the FDA to ask for an appeal before the restrictions on mifepristone went into effect.
The Biden administration asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the drug to be given to women while the lawsuit continues.
The court gave the administration a partial victory, saying the drug could remain on the market, but with restrictions. The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court came just before midnight Wednesday. The ruling allows for mifepristone to continue to be available in the U.S. but with several strict limitations.
The administration then went to the Supreme Court to ask that those restrictions be lifted while the original lawsuit moves forward.
A Supreme Court justice is assigned to each of the 13 federal circuit courts, and that justice considers certain types of appeals, including emergency petitions such as the one in this case.
Emergency petitions from the 5th Circuit Court are assigned to Justice Samuel Alito. Alito put the emergency petition on hold to allow for a few extra days to review the case. Alito will likely refer the case to the full court for its review.
The Supreme Court is not deciding the original case, but whether and how mifepristone can be distributed while the case moves forward.
There will be no restrictions placed on mifepristone through Wednesday when there is a ruling. The case will continue whatever the ruling from the Supreme Court is.
