The Supreme Court is set to hear its first abortion case since the end of Roe v. Wade. Nearly two-thirds of Americans who choose to terminate their pregnancies now opt for medication abortion, which has become increasingly popular since 2000. The FDA’s approval of mifepristone as part of a two-drug regimen with misoprostol has contributed to this trend. The FDA has also expanded the window during which the medicine may be used and eased dispensing requirements. However, on March 26th, the Supreme Court will consider whether these relaxed regulations should be tightened back up.
FDA v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine initially challenged the FDA’s original approval of mifepristone. In April 2023, a district-court judge in Texas invalidated the authorization from 2000 and subsequent liberalizations. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals partially overturned this ruling last August, keeping mifepristone on the shelves but requiring the removal of the 2016 and 2021 changes, which extended the drug’s use through ten weeks of pregnancy and allowed it to be sent to women by post with a remote prescription.
The plaintiffs, represented by Erin Hawley, wife of Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, argue that the FDA violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it expanded access to the “high risk” drug in 2016 and 2021. They claim that the changes were based on insufficient and unreliable data, lifting long-existing and common-sense safety standards in an arbitrary and capricious manner.
2024-03-21 09:14:09
Source from www.economist.com