The U.S. Supreme Court docket says it would hear a case in regards to the abortion tablet mifepristone subsequent 12 months and assessment a decrease court docket resolution that will make it tougher to get that medication.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Supreme Court docket has agreed to listen to a case about an abortion tablet. The court docket says it would assessment decrease court docket choices that will make it tougher to get mifepristone subsequent 12 months. Let’s discuss this with Sarah Varney, who’s a journalist who covers reproductive rights. Sarah, good morning.
SARAH VARNEY, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: What’s at concern right here?
VARNEY: So simply to stroll by what’s occurred to date, there was a federal choose in Amarillo, Texas. He was appointed by former President Trump, and he really revoked the approval of mifepristone completely. Then that call was appealed to the Fifth Circuit, which is in New Orleans. And that court docket did not agree with that sweeping resolution. But it surely did agree with a bunch of anti-abortion organizations that argued the FDA’s approval strategy of mifepristone was flawed and that the FDA erred when it made the drug extra extensively out there, together with by telemedicine and thru the mail. So yesterday, the Supreme Court docket justices agreed to take up an attraction to that call from the corporate that makes mifepristone and the Biden administration. They usually’re asking the Supreme Court docket to reverse that ruling by the Fifth Circuit.
INSKEEP: That is actually attention-grabbing. So it is not only a yes-no resolution on whether or not the FDA correctly accepted this tablet. There are additionally questions on the way it’s accessible and a wide range of FDA selections over a wide range of years. So how might entry to the tablet be affected?
VARNEY: Certain. Effectively, you recognize, simply to begin, abortion drugs account for greater than half of all abortions on this nation. They usually’re actually used additionally by OB-GYNs to handle early miscarriages, in order that they’re massively necessary. If the Supreme Court docket upholds the appellate ruling by the Fifth Circuit, then sufferers wouldn’t have the ability to get mifepristone by the mail, even when they stay in states like Massachusetts or California the place abortion is authorized. They must make three separate appointments in particular person with a physician. This isn’t at the moment required. And as an alternative of with the ability to use mifepristone into the tenth week of being pregnant, sufferers might solely use it till seven weeks. This doesn’t suggest treatment abortion would develop into completely unavailable. Clinics and physicians and telemedicine companies might nonetheless prescribe a drug known as misoprostol. That is normally taken with mifepristone, nevertheless it will also be taken safely and successfully by itself. And simply to notice that misoprostol was really accepted by the FDA in 1988, so fairly a very long time in the past, to deal with gastric ulcers. The anti-abortion teams – we simply have not seen them goal that approval course of but.
INSKEEP: But, you say. Now, since that is all about FDA approval and whether or not it was correct, what does this case imply for the FDA?
VARNEY: Yeah, this can be a actually uncommon case. You realize, the FDA accepted this treatment greater than 20 years in the past. Greater than 5 million individuals within the U.S. have used it safely. It is accepted to be used all over the world. And this case has attracted plenty of consideration from FDA students, you recognize, some who assist abortion rights. Others don’t. They really filed an amicus temporary defending the FDA’s rigorous drug approval course of. They usually argued that if non secular teams or personal people can problem, you recognize, every drug that the FDA opinions, that it actually undermines all the FDA regulatory authority, and it should throw the pharmaceutical trade and, actually, the nation’s regulation of medicine simply into disarray.
INSKEEP: OK, so the court docket now listening to a case that will go all the best way into 2024, which occurs to be an election 12 months. Sarah Varney, thanks a lot. Actually respect it.
VARNEY: Oh, thanks, Steve.
Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content is probably not in its remaining type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could range. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.
