The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an abortion case, the first since overturning a constitutional right to abortion last year.
The case concerns the federal approval of the widely prescribed pill mifepristone, amid a fierce litigated battle over abortion access happening across the United States. Voters in states such as Kansas, Michigan, and Ohio have voted to preserve access, while state courts in places like Texas, where near-total bans have been implemented, remain loath to approve medical exceptions. The drug is used in more than half of all abortions, and a ban would complicate access for women in states where the procedure remains legal.
Why We Wrote This
The Supreme Court overturned women’s constitutional right to an abortion and said it was up to the states to decide legality. A year later, the issue is headed back to the high court.
A decision is expected next summer, just months before a presidential election in which abortion is expected to be a major issue for voters.
If nothing else, the case drives home the fact that the Supreme Court’s declaration that the issue would now be returned “to the people and their elected representatives” in states has not come to pass.
And with abortion restrictions proving unpopular with American voters, including in red states, courts will likely remain a popular forum for those hoping to restrict abortion access further.
Mifepristone has been publicly available since 2000, when it was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The agency has made the drug more accessible since then, issuing new regulations in 2016 and 2021. A coalition of anti-abortion groups and doctors filed a lawsuit in Texas earlier this year, seeking to pull the medication off the shelves. The approval processes for mifepristone were flawed, they argue, and the drug is too dangerous to be kept on the market.
