Biden administration takes abortion pill dispute to US Supreme Court
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[September 09, 2023]
By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) -President Joe Biden's administration took its battle to
preserve broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone to the U.S.
Supreme Court on Friday as it appealed a lower court's ruling that would
curb how the drug is delivered and distributed.
The Justice Department said it filed its appeal of an August decision by
the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that would bar
telemedicine prescriptions and shipments of mifepristone by mail. The
drug's manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, also said it filed its appeal
on Friday.
The 5th Circuit's decision is currently on hold pending the outcome of
the administration's appeal at the Supreme Court.
The Justice Department in its filing said that allowing the 5th
Circuit's restrictions to take effect would have "damaging consequences
for women seeking lawful abortions and a healthcare system that relies
on the availability of the drug under the current conditions of use."
The case could put at risk the authority of the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), the federal agency that signs off on the safety of
food products, drugs and medical devices. The FDA approved mifepristone
in 2000.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/09/images/ads/current/elkhart_fertilizer_sda_FAIR_2023.png)
In its filing, Danco's attorney Jessica Ellsworth said the 5th Circuit
upended the approved conditions for use of Danco's drug, called Mifeprex,
"at the request of a group of plaintiffs who do not prescribe or use the
drug and whose real disagreement with FDA is that they oppose all forms
of abortion."
If the justices decide to take up the case, they could hear arguments in
their next term, which begins in October, and issue a ruling by the end
of June 2024.
The 5th Circuit's decision partially sided with the anti-abortion groups
and doctors who challenged mifepristone. It did not go as far as a prior
decision by U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, that would
have suspended FDA approval of mifepristone and effectively pulled it
off the market.
In April, the Supreme Court granted emergency requests by the Justice
Department and the pill's manufacturer Danco Laboratories to put on hold
Kacsmaryk's order while litigation continued.
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![](../images/090923PIX/health23.jpg)
Mifepristone, the first medication in a medical abortion, is
prepared for a patient at Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale,
Illinois, U.S., April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/09/images/ads/current/chicagostreet_quarter_FAIR_2023.png) Biden's administration is seeking to
defend mifepristone in the face of mounting abortion bans and
restrictions enacted by Republican-led states since the Supreme
Court in June 2022 overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision
that had legalized the procedure nationwide.
Mifepristone is taken with another drug called misoprostol to
perform medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of
all U.S. abortions. The drug has other uses including management of
miscarriages. The FDA has called mifepristone safe and effective as
demonstrated over decades of use by millions of Americans, with
adverse effects exceedingly rare.
Anti-abortion groups led by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine
and four anti-abortion doctors sued the FDA last year. The
challengers, represented by the conservative religious rights group
Alliance Defending Freedom, contend that the FDA illegally approved
mifepristone and then removed critical safeguards on what they call
a dangerous drug.
The 5th Circuit's August decision rolled back FDA actions that had
made the drug easier to access in recent years, including a 2021
decision allowing the drug to be prescribed remotely and sent by
mail, instead of requiring an in-person doctor visit, and a 2016
decision to allow mifepristone to be used to 10 weeks of pregnancy,
up from seven.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Sep/09/images/ads/current/werth_sda_FAIR_2023.png)
Since last year's Supreme Court decision, at least 14 U.S. states
have put in place outright abortion bans while many others prohibit
abortion after a certain length of pregnancy.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
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