On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a politically motivated case challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, one of two medications most commonly used in medication abortion in the United States, often also prescribed for miscarriage management. Access and approval to mifepristone remains unchanged at this time, and we expect a ruling this summer.
Access to safe, effective medication abortion care is essential to ensuring people’s freedom to make decisions about their bodies based on what’s best for their circumstances. Mifepristone is a safe, effective FDA-approved medication with a 20+ year track record, and is now used in more than half of all abortions. The FDA’s medical and scientific experts approved mifepristone, and they should decide what medications are available to patients, not politicians or the courts.
If this ruling is allowed to stand, it would undermine the FDA’s authority and their ability to make nonpartisan decisions based on scientific data about drug safety and efficacy. It would also jeopardize future development of therapies and cures. This is a cynical, backdoor effort to push the most common method of abortion care out of reach, ignoring medical standards, 20+ years of evidence, and public opinion. This case’s repercussions go far beyond abortion care—it could stifle medical innovation, upend the country’s drug approval process, and put every approved medication in the political crosshairs.
Last month, the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the judicial review process for Amendment 4 — the ballot initiative enshrining a right to reproductive freedom in the Florida Constitution. The court, which typically releases opinions on Thursdays, has until April 1 to make a decision on whether or not Amendment 4 appears on the ballot in November. The Florida Supreme Court shouldn’t take the bait on the state’s baseless, partisan arguments — Floridians deserve the opportunity to vote on Amendment 4 in November.
