Interim disposal
Abortion pill: US Supreme Court intervenes
The fight for abortion rights in the US is currently focused on the drug mifepristone. photo
© Charlie Riedel/AP
The controversy over the abortion pill mifepristone in the United States continues. First, the drug must remain available – but not for long.
The Supreme Court has now intervened in the dispute over the approval of the abortion pill mifepristone in the USA. With an injunction, the court ordered the drug to remain available until Wednesday midnight (local time).
It was responding to a motion brought by President Joe Biden’s administration and a manufacturer challenging an appeals court order. This instance had decided that mifepristone should only be available and used with restrictions.
The appeals court came after a decision by a Texas federal court to suspend approval of the drug altogether. Mifepristone was approved in the US in 2000 and is commonly used with the drug misoprostol for pregnancy termination. But it can also be used alone. The World Health Organization only recommends this if mifepristone is unavailable. According to the FDA, mifepristone is a reliable drug.
Abortion opponents had sued in Texas against the approval – they want to make access to medical abortion more difficult. In particular, the religious right and large sections of the Republican Party have been trying to curtail abortion rights in the USA for decades. Last year, the right-wing Supreme Court overturned the country’s abortion law, which had been in effect for almost 50 years. According to surveys, a majority of the population supports this right.