Key takeaways:
- The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a ruling from a federal judge in Texas that would have put a pause on the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone.
- Justice Samuel Alito ordered that Kacsmaryk’s decision cannot go into effect until at least Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. to give the justices time to consider next steps.
- The Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily block the ruling will give the justices more time to consider the implications of the ruling and allow for nationwide access to mifepristone to be preserved.
The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a ruling from a federal judge in Texas that would have put a pause on the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one of the two pills involved in a medication abortion. This ruling will preserve nationwide access to mifepristone at least until Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled on April 7 that the FDA’s approval of mifepristone would be put on pause following a seven-day window for the government to appeal. This two-step medication abortion regimen, or a slightly less effective misoprostol-only regimen, is now used in more than half of all abortions in the U.S.
Mifepristone is a medicine that blocks the receptors for the hormone progesterone, which is needed for fetal development. Justice Samuel Alito on Friday ordered that Kacsmaryk’s decision cannot go into effect until at least Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. to give the justices time to consider next steps.
Abortion clinics are readying contingency plans in case mifepristone’s FDA approval is overturned. The Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily block the ruling from the federal judge in Texas will give the justices more time to consider the implications of the ruling and allow for nationwide access to mifepristone to be preserved.
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