The US Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court order restricting access to the abortion pill mifepristone nationwide. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an order today freezing the decision until Wednesday at midnight, after the Justice Department filed an emergency request asking the court to intervene in the case.
The decision of the Supreme Court gave until Tuesday at noon for the plaintiffs to present their response. In this way, the magistrates have time to study whether or not they decide to formally grant a suspension of the sentence that restricts access to the drug at the national level. At the center of the legal dispute is the health authorization that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave 23 years ago to mifepristone, used in more than half of the abortions in the country.
A Texas judge's decision to withdraw the FDA's health authorization for the pill was upheld in part by a Louisiana appeals court on Wednesday, and the restrictions were to go into effect this Saturday.
In its ruling, the court stipulated that the drug can be available only up to the first seven weeks of pregnancy, three less than previously, and that it must be picked up in person.
The Department of Justice argued before the Supreme Court that, if it entered into force, the restriction on mifepristone would have serious consequences both for those who want to abort as well as for the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA. "If allowed to take effect, the lower court orders would change the regulatory regime for mifepristone, with sweeping consequences for the pharmaceutical industry, the women who need access to the drug, and the FDA's ability to implement its statutory authority." , argued the Department of Justice in the request filed this Friday morning.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that supports abortion rights, 54% of pregnancy terminations in the United States in 2022 were with abortion pills such as mifepristone or misoprostol.
The political and judicial battle over abortion was revived in the United States in June of last year, when the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, struck down the constitutional right to it at the federal level, leaving the decision in the hands of each state. After that, dozens of states governed by Republicans have restricted this practice.
Planned Parenthood, which advocates for high-quality, affordable reproductive and medical care in the country, estimates that 18 of the 50 states have since banned or severely restricted abortion, and that in 13 of the 50 states access to the service is the practice impossible although there are exceptions.
Meanwhile, the governor of Florida, Republican Ron DeSantis, signed the law that prohibits abortion in this state after six weeks of pregnancy, a rule that stands among the most restrictive in the US and that, according to the Democratic opposition, makes it almost impossible to access this service.
"We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida," the governor said, according to a statement issued by his office around midnight on Thursday and that DeSantis signed the rule around 10:45 p.m. of that day. "While other states such as California and New York have legalized infanticide until birth, Governor DeSantis has enacted historic measures to uphold the dignity of human life and transform Florida into a pro-family state," his office said in a statement. release.
Clara Trullenque, spokesperson in Spanish for Florida for the reproductive health organization Planned Parenthood, told EFE that "the governor has rushed to sign this law in the most absolute discretion, in the middle of the night, being aware of the low popularity it has in his own state."
This legal battle is the latest twist in the assault on abortion rights in the United States.
