Abortion pill access to be debated by Supreme Court in election boost for Joe Biden
The Supreme Court has said it will determine whether millions of women across America can continue using a popular “abortion pill” in what could prove to be a boost for Joe Biden ahead of the election.
Eighteen months after the court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion, justices said they would consider a bid by the Biden administration to preserve widespread access to so-called “medication abortions” using pills.
Even before last year’s decision, medication abortions accounted for more than 50 per cent of all procedures. After the scrapping of Roe v Wade, abortions using a prescription drug called mifepristone soared by as much as 130 per cent because it is an accessible option for women living in states where abortion is now illegal or difficult to access.
Mr Biden, himself a Catholic whose personal views on abortion have changed over time, has vowed to ensure women can continue to access medication procedures, even in states where the law has banned abortions.
In August, a conservative appeals court in Louisiana ruled that mifepristone should not be prescribed past seven weeks of pregnancy.
That ruling - which is currently on hold pending the Supreme Court case - openly challenged the authority of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to alone authorise and regulate decisions about the safety of medicines.
Safe and effective
Mifepristone is taken with another drug called misoprostol to perform medication abortion and was approved as safe and effective by the FDA in 2000.
Wednesday’s announcement means the Supreme Court will again be at the centre of controversy over the right to access abortion.
A small but consistent majority of Americans say abortion should be legal. A poll earlier this year found more than 60 per cent believe access to mifepristone should continue.
As the US prepares for an election next year, the decision by the court - regardless of what it decides - could well help the Democrats.
For their supporters, access to abortion has been a major issue of concern and proved to be a rallying force during the 2022 midterms.
By contrast, all of the Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for president have said they support restrictions, or even bans, on abortions.
At the moment, 14 states have bans, and many others impose restrictions.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said the administration will continue to defend women’s access to reproductive health care. She also denounced “extreme and dangerous abortion bans” that jeopardise women’s health and threaten to criminalise doctors.
“No woman should be unable to access the health care that she needs. This should not happen in America, period,” she said.
The non-profit sexual and reproductive health care provider Planned Parenthood welcomed the court’s decision.
“We are pleased the Supreme Court has decided to hear this case, and it should reverse the extreme decisions of the lower courts. The facts are clear: mifepristone is safe and effective,” said Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson.
Erin Hawley, a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious rights group that took the issue to the Louisiana court in the first place, claimed that “mail-order abortions” were dangerous for women and urged the Supreme Court to back the Louisiana ruling.
The Supreme Court also said it would listen to an appeal by the drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories.
The development came days after a woman in Texas left the state to terminate a pregnancy that doctors said threatened her health. The Republican Attorney General, and later the state supreme court, said she did not meet the requirements for an exception that permits abortions when a mother is endangered.
