The greatest power in the world continues to question the right to abortion. The future of the abortion pill in the United States will now be decided before the Supreme Court. The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it would seize the temple of law to challenge the restrictions on access to this stamp, decided a few hours earlier by a Court of Appeal. Three visits to the doctor, an authorization limited to the first seven weeks of pregnancy, a ban on sending the pill by post…
A panel of three judges based in the conservative South set strict conditions on Wednesday evening for the distribution of mifepristone. With potentially immense consequences on access to abortion: combined with another cachet, mifepristone, is used for more than half of abortions in the United States. The government will “defend the scientific judgment” of the US Drug Administration (FDA), which has authorized the abortion pill for more than two decades, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
“Extremely rare” side effects
At the origin of this legal saga: the decision last week of a judge, known for his ultra-conservative views, who had withdrawn his marketing authorization. Despite the scientific consensus, he considered that mifepristone posed risks to the health of women and suspended its authorization for the entire United States.
He had provided for a one-week delay before his decision would apply, in order to give the federal government time to appeal.
The administration of Democratic President Joe Biden had asked a New Orleans appeals court to intervene to block the “extraordinary and unprecedented” judgment of Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by Donald Trump, “pending the substantive review” of the file. In its appeal, the government recalled that more than 5 million women have used mifepristone, combined with another tablet, since its authorization by the FDA in 2000. When it is taken correctly, serious side effects are extremely rare, pleaded- he.
The future of the cachet suspended from the decision of those who limited abortion
But the decision of the appeals court did not give reason to the Biden administration, since it considerably limited access to this pill. The Supreme Court, dominated by conservatives since its reshuffle by Donald Trump, is therefore called upon to decide. It is this same institution which had canceled last June the constitutional protection of abortion, provoking its prohibition in fifteen States.
The future of this cachet is therefore very uncertain. At the same time, a coalition of Democratic states seized another court at the end of February to try to preserve this pill. Less than an hour after Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision, one of his colleagues, Judge Thomas Rice, appointed by Barack Obama and sitting in the State of Washington, had considered that mifepristone was “safe and effective” and had prohibited the FDA to withdraw its approval in the 17 states at the origin of the appeal.