The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the bid to drastically curb access to the FDA-approved abortion pill, mifepristone. The decision, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, stated that the plaintiffs (anti-abortion organizations) lacked standing to sue the FDA because they could not show they had been harmed by the availability of abortion pills.
GenBioPro, one of the pharmaceutical companies that make mifepristone, said it expected that “politically motivated attacks” on the drug would continue.
After the Supreme Court opinion was issued, President Joe Biden said in a statement: “Today’s decision does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues. It does not change the fact that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, and women lost a fundamental freedom. It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.”
A cynical person might think that the conservative Justices (who routinely ignore “standing” doctrine when it suits them) did this to keep the entire issue of reproductive rights out of the election cycle (where vast majority reject what they are doing), so they can take a… https://t.co/3Nn5s0bE1Z
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads) (@AWeissmann_) June 13, 2024
Legal analyst Andrew Weissmann, former Assistant U.S. Attorney, wrote: “A cynical person might think that the conservative Justices (who routinely ignore ‘standing’ doctrine when it suits them) did this to keep the entire issue of reproductive rights out of the election cycle (where vast majority reject what they are doing), so they can take a hatchet to them after November.”
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin responded to Weissmann: “I am sometimes a cynical person—but I am also waiting on the decision on whether Idaho’s strict abortion law must give way to federal emergency treatment law where a woman’s health is in serious danger. That, I fear, will remind folks what’s at stake.”
Note: Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who said he would reveal his opinion on access to the abortion pill but never did and who has bragged about killing Roe v Wade with the three conservative Justices he appointed, also recently expressed his support for the values of the Danbury Institute, a Christian organization which has vowed to “eradicate” abortion and ensure the procedure is prosecuted as homicide.