Pro-abortion groups are celebrating this week after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court decision that would have restricted access to mifepristone, a widely-used abortion drug.
Brad Young, KMOX's legal analyst, gave more details on what that Supreme Court decision means. He explained that this administrative stay means that the status quo is in effect — meaning that mifepristone is just as available as it was before the lower court's decision. Now, we just have to see if that stay is approved.
"The two most important standards for determining whether a stay is going to be approved by the court, number one, the likelihood of success on appeal. And number two, the likelihood of irreparable harm pending appeal," Young said. "And so with a seven to two decision, that's a very strong vote that indicates more likely than not that the Fifth Circuit will be overturned, and that mifepristone will continue to stay legal nationwide."
Young added that this particular case is not about abortion, but about the FDA approval process. That's because the case came about when it was argued that the FDA's 2016 approval of the drug didn't follow proper guidelines.
"In the fifth district, that Texas judge found that the FDA did not follow proper procedure when the drug was expanded when use of the drug expanded in 2016," he said. "Now, the Ninth Circuit in the state of Washington, they found the exact opposite; that judge found that the FDA did follow the rules. And anytime you have these disputes between districts, that's a recipe for a fast, direct pipeline to the Supreme Court."
Hear more about the mifepristone decision from KMOX Legal Analyst Brad Young:
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