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 Acquire Licensing RightsPresident 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.
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.