Abortion Pill Survives Legal Challenge with Imposed Restrictions, Says Appeals Court

Mifepristone, a common abortion pill medication, will continue to be prescribed to patients, but with limitations, a federal appeals court decided on Wednesday.

The US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit’s ruling will be put on hold until the Supreme Court determines whether to take the issue up, thus access to the medication will continue to be legal.

Since the Supreme Court repealed Roe Wade last year, the case represents the abortion legal dispute with the highest stakes. The Justice Department declared that it would take the Wednesday judgment to the Supreme Court for review.

Since its initial approval in 2000, mifepristone has been frequently used in the US to abort pregnancies in the first 10 weeks of gestation. On a national level, mifepristone is used as the first pill of a two-pill regimen to perform around half of all abortions. Miscarriages are also managed with its aid. 

Judge James Ho argued that the drug’s initial approval ought to have been revoked, but the three-judge panel decided 2-1 that mifepristone and its generic equivalent can remain on the market. 

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FDA’s Medicine Access Modifications Ruled Illegal in Panel Vote

By a 3-0 vote, the panel decided that the Food and Medicine Administration was in violation of the law when it made changes to the way the medicine could be accessed since 2016.

These modifications included extending the gestational age at which mifepristone can be used to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of 7, enabling patients to get the prescription by mail, reducing the dosage, and allowing providers other than doctors to prescribe the medication. 

Mifepristone’s safety limits were loosened, but the FDA ignored a number of crucial issues that raised doubts about the medication’s safety for female users. It overlooked the result of simultaneously eliminating numerous significant safeguards. 

The conservative court’s decision to allow the medicine to remain on the market is a partial success for the Biden administration. Even though the FDA approved the generic version after 2016, the panel also said it could continue to be sold.

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Source: thehill.com