Mifepristone ruling – latest: Supreme Court decision keeps medical abortion pill approval in place

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said Thursday she has directed the state to obtain a supply of the most commonly used abortion medication in the U.S. amid fears that a court ruling could restrict access to it.

The Democratic governor said regardless of the court’s decision about mifepristone’s availability, patients in Oregon will have access to it for years.

“I will make sure that patients are able to access the medication they need and providers are able to provide that medication without unnecessary, politically-motivated interference and intimidation,” Kotek said in a statement.

According to Kotek’s office, the state is partnering with Oregon Health & Science University to obtain 22,500 doses of mifepristone. The state joins Washington, California, New York and Massachusetts in buying bulk amounts of abortion medication in recent weeks.

In November, the right-wing legal group Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Amarillo, Texas on behalf of a group of anti-abortion activists incorporated as the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which was organised that same month with an address in Amarillo.

The Alliance Defending Freedom also led the challenge at the Supreme Court that ultimately struck down Roe v Wade.

US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk – a former right-wing activist lawyer who was appointed to the federal judiciary by Donald Trump – held a hearing in the case on 15 March in Amarillo.

Earlier this month, Judge Kacsmaryk issued a ruling to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. His order was set to take effect a week later, pending a decision from on appeal. But in a separate ruling in Washington state, a federal judge ruled that the FDA cannot change the status quo when it comes to mifepristone’s approval, setting up potentially duelling decisions over the drug.

Abortion rights advocates, providers, major medical groups and legal analysts condemned the ruling, and the US Department of Justice and Danco Laboratories, which manufactures mifepristone, filed an appeal.

That appeal landed at the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the Amarillo court.

A three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit blocked a part of the judge’s ruling, but struck against mail-in prescriptions and rules that expanded the drug’s approval for use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

The Supreme Court has blocked the Texas ruling while it considers the case.

When the company bowed to Republican pressure and said it wouldn’t provide abortion pills in 20 states — even states where the abortion pill is legal — all hell broke loose. Then California made a shock announcement. Holly Baxter reports

The US Supreme Court is expected to make a decision on an appeal in a case involving mifepristone at some point today.

The court will not be ruling on the merits of the case, but it will determine how or if mifepristone can be dispensed while the case continues to play out.

Earlier this month, US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas sided with a group of anti-abortion activists seeking to overturn the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, was was first approved by the agency 23 years ago. The medicine is part of a two-drug protocol for medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of all abortions in the US.

It is unclear how the Supreme Court will rule on the appeal, though a ruling to strike down the FDA’s approval of the drug would drastically impact access to abortion and miscarriage care for millions of Americans across the country, including in states where it is legally protected.

A medication abortion procedure typically consists of a two-drug protocol of mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone is used in more than half of all abortions in the US.

The drug was first approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration in most cases up to 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2000. A vast majority of abortions occur within the first nine weeks of pregnancy. From 2019 through 2020, nearly 93 per cent of all abortions were performed before the 13th week, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mifepristone is also used to treat miscarriages. Roughly 10 per cent of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriages, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The drug blocks the hormone progesterone, which helps support the uterus. A healthy uterine lining supports a fertilized egg, embryo and fetus. Without progesterone, the uterus will expel its contents.

Roughly 24 to 48 hours after a patient takes mifepristone, the patient then takes misoprostol, which helps empty the uterus.

Medication abortion typically consists of a two-drug protocol of mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone is used in more than half of all abortions in the US.

The drug was first approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration in most cases up to 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2000. A vast majority of abortions occur within the first nine weeks of pregnancy. From 2019 through 2020, nearly 93 per cent of all abortions were performed before the 13th week, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mifepristone is also used to treat miscarriages. Roughly 10 per cent of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriages, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The Texas abortion judge who issued a ruling suspending access to mifepristone failed to disclose Christian talk radio interviews during his Senate confirmation process, it has been revealed.

In the interviews from 2014, Matthew Kacsmaryk claimed that being gay was “a lifestyle” and raised concerns that changes in norms around same-sex relationships would clash with religion.

It previously emerged that he had also failed to disclose to members of Congress that he authored an article attacking abortion rights and transgender healthcare in a right-wing legal journal.

The judge removed his name from the article before a judicial nomination process under then-President Donald Trump, according to The Washington Post.

A ruling to strike down the FDA’s approval of the drug could drastically impact access to abortion and miscarriage care for millions of Americans across the country, including in states where it is legally protected.

Abortion rights advocates and civil rights legal groups were stunned by recent federal court decisions on mifepristone, which they say are “unmoored” by both the law and science, including decades of research and guidance from major medical and public health organisations.

The Independent’s Maya Oppenheim writes:

Oregon’s Democratic Governor Tina Kotek has directed the state to obtain a supply of the most commonly used abortion medication in the US amid fears that a court ruling could restrict access to it.

“I will make sure that patients are able to access the medication they need and providers are able to provide that medication without unnecessary, politically-motivated interference and intimidation,” she said in a statement.

The state is among several Democratic-led states boosting supplies of mifepristone and misoprostole ahead of a potential decision from the US Supreme Court and lower federal courts that could pause access to the drug or strip the FDA’s approval entirely.