Supreme Court Tosses Doctors’ Challenge To Abortion Pill

Supreme Court Tosses Doctors’ Challenge To Abortion Pill
U.S. Supreme Court

By Katelynn Richardson

The Supreme Court sided unanimously Thursday against several doctors and pro-life medical associations who brought a challenge to the abortion pill.

In FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the Supreme Court held that the doctors do not have standing to challenge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to roll back safety regulations for the abortion pill. While recognizing the plaintiffs have “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA’s relaxed regulation of mifepristone,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority rulings that those kind of objections are not enough to show the doctors would be injured by the FDA’s actions, noting the federal courts are “the wrong forum” for addressing their concerns.

“Under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff ’s desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Nor do the plaintiffs’ other standing theories suffice.”

Those who object to the abortion pill and its manner of regulation “may always take their concerns to the Executive and Legislative Branches and seek greater regulatory or legislative restrictions on certain activities,” Kavanaugh wrote.

In August 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the FDA “failed to address several important concerns” when it loosened restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone after 2016. The appeals court narrowed an injunction earlier issued by Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who required the FDA to reverse its initial 2000 approval of the pill altogether.

The FDA allowed distribution of mifepristone via mail and removed the initial in-person visit requirement in 2021. Earlier in 2016, it rolled back other safety regulations, enabling the drug to be used through ten weeks of pregnancy rather than seven. (RELATED: Justice Alito Asks Biden DOJ Point-Blank Why Statute Gov Argues Requires Abortion Uses The Phrase ‘Unborn Child’)

The OB/GYNs and emergency room doctors who brought the challenge argued that women are more likely to require medical treatment as a result of the FDA’s relaxed safety standards, requiring them to sometimes, in violation of their conscience, complete an unfinished chemical abortion to address complications.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

 

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