Per the LA Times:
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled for the Biden administration to preserve legal access in most of the nation to an abortion pill that is part of the most common method of ending early pregnancies.
In an unsighed order, the justices blocked rulings by a Texas judge and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that could have sharply restricted use of the pills or taken them off the market entirely.
The vote was 7-2, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissenting.
- The Supreme Court has ordered that mifepristone remain broadly available as litigation plays out in a lower court.
- The case will now be heard in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court has scheduled oral arguments for Wednesday, May 17 at 1 pm CT.
- The national legal battle over mifepristone began with a lawsuit filed by a coalition of doctors who oppose abortion, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.
- Mifepristone, used in combination with another drug, is the most common method to terminate a pregnancy in the U.S., accounting for about half of all abortions.
