US Supreme Court puts abortion pill restrictions on temporary hold

The US Supreme Court on Friday temporarily halted a lower-court ruling that would have set strict limits on how women can access abortion pills containing mifepristone.

Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary stay on the decision, which will remain in place until the end of April 19, giving the nation’s highest court more time to consider an appeal by the administration of president Joe Biden against restrictions put in place on the pills.

Alito’s intervention marks the latest twist in a week of dramatic legal manoeuvrings between anti-abortion campaigners, the Biden administration and the pharmaceutical industry over women’s reproductive rights. It comes amid a broader battle over abortion rights being fought in court and in Republican-led state legislatures, where a wave of new restrictions have sharply curtailed access to the procedure in some areas.

Last week a federal judge in Texas, Matthew Kacsmaryk, overturned regulators’ decision to approve mifepristone more than two decades ago, tantamount to a nationwide ban on the drug. The ruling also imposed tight restrictions on use of the most popular type of abortion pill, which accounts for more than half of all terminations in the US.

The restrictions include blocking patients from receiving the drugs by mail and requiring that abortion pills be prescribed by doctors.

Earlier this week the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit temporarily halted the lower court’s revocation of regulatory approval, preserving access to pills containing mifepristone, but allowed the restrictions on their use to enter into force from Friday.

In its application to the Supreme Court filed on Friday, the US Department of Justice said that if the lower courts’ orders took effect, it “would upend the regulatory regime for mifepristone, with sweeping consequences for the pharmaceutical industry, women who need access to the drug, and the [Food and Drug Administration’s] ability to implement its statutory authority”.

The DoJ said the case “raises a host of unprecedented issues and has put FDA and regulated entities in an impossible position”.

Earlier on Friday Danco Laboratories, the main manufacturer of abortion pills containing mifepristone, warned the restrictions would cause regulatory chaos and may force it to halt operations.

“The Fifth Circuit’s order, standing alone, will irreparably injure Danco,” the company said in a petition asking the Supreme Court to lift the restrictions. “The result is a regulatory mess that will irreparably injure Danco by making it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for Danco to continue selling its only product.”

Adding to the legal uncertainty is a contradictory ruling by a district court in Washington state issued just minutes after the Texas decision. The Washington court ordered that the FDA maintain the drug’s availability, and on Thursday said its decision should be followed “irrespective” of the Texas ruling.

The DoJ noted in its filing with the Supreme Court that the “FDA faces an obvious threat of irreparable harm from conflicting court orders”.