(NewsNation) — The Supreme Court has temporarily extended a stay that prohibits restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone from going into effect. The stay will now be extended through Friday.
The move comes after a legal battle in Texas, as abortion opponents sought to remove FDA approval for mifepristone, the most common drug used in medication abortions in the U.S. A federal judge ruled to remove FDA approval of the drug, but a federal appeals court reversed the decision, with restrictions on using mifepristone.
At the same time, a federal judge in Washington ruled the FDA needed to preserve access to mifepristone with no new restrictions in a lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia and 17 Democratic-led states, setting up a legal conflict that brought the case to the Supreme Court, as the Biden administration said the conflicting rulings create an impossible situation for the FDA.
Justice Samuel Alito issued an emergency stay on the drug’s restrictions, which included prohibiting mail-order prescriptions, generic prescriptions and requiring three in-person doctor visits for patients. This stay is now extended through Friday.
Mifepristone, which is also used to manage miscarriages, first won FDA approval in 2000, and conditions on its use have been loosened in recent years, including making it available by mail in states that allow access. There is virtually no precedent for a lone judge overturning the regulator’s medical decisions.
The Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, the maker of the drug, want the nation’s highest court to reject limits on mifepristone’s use imposed by lower courts, at least as long as the legal case makes it way through the courts. They say women who want the drug and providers who dispense it will face chaos if limits on the drug take effect. Depending on what the justices decide, that could include requiring women to take a higher dosage of the drug than the FDA says is necessary.
Mifepristone, which blocks progesterone, a hormone required for pregnancy, is typically used in combination with misoprostol, a drug which causes the uterus to contract. The drugs can be administered in a clinic but can also be used for self-managed abortions. The two-drug combination is about 95% to 99% effective in ending a pregnancy. Used alone, misoprostol is less effective. Some research rates it around 85% effective, although other studies say it’s closer to that of the two-drug combination.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
