the Supreme Court upholds access to the abortion pill for the time being

The Supreme Court of the United States decided on Friday, April 21, to maintain for the moment access to mifepristone, an abortion pill used for more than half of voluntary terminations of pregnancy (IVG) in the country. The federal government had taken urgent action to court a week earlier to suspend a series of restrictions imposed by federal courts. The high court notably blocked the judgment of a Texas magistrate who had withdrawn, at the beginning of April, the marketing authorization for this drug.

This decision means that American women will be able to continue to receive mifepristone by post, in states where abortion is legal. Only two conservative judges, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, expressed their disagreement with the decision taken on Friday by a majority of nine magistrates. This is the most important intervention by the Supreme Court on the question of abortion since it revoked the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022.

Joe Biden immediately reacted to an announcement blocking measures for the moment “which allegedly undermined the medical judgment of the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and endangered women’s health”. However, the legal battle over the abortion pill will continue. A hearing is scheduled before an appeals court in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 17.