In a Thursday amicus brief, 603 lawmakers urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision regarding mifepristone, a drug that aids in abortion procedures.
If the nation’s highest court does uphold the circuit court decision, it would have nationwide implications for abortion access, according to a press release from State Innovation Exchange’s (SiX) Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council (RFLC).
It would “reverse over 20 years of advancements in care and interfere with legislators’ authority to protect care for their communities,” said the group, which submitted the amicus brief. This brief was in relation to FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. A federal appeals court panel ruled in August that the drug, should be made available with restrictions.
However, the Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on the case.
Last year, the conservative-leaning court reversed more than 50 years of abortion access protection established by Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision.
According to RFLC, the mifepristone case “is the first abortion-related matter before the high court since it overturned Roe v. Wade over a year ago,” and it also “challenges the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, one of two medications used in medication abortion care that’s backed by over two decades of safety and effectiveness.”
This spring, Louisiana health official Dr. Joe Kanter joined Audacy to explain why blocking access to mifepristone has implications beyond abortion.
“Mifepristone is often used to treat miscarriage itself,” he said, adding that “miscarriage is much more common than people realize – about one in four, one in four pregnancies end in a miscarriage, and oftentimes it’s before the woman even knows they’re pregnant.”
Lawmakers who submitted the amicus brief also pointed out that if the Fifth Circuit’s decision is upheld, it could undermine the FDA’s authority to approve medications on the market. That’s something lawmakers rely on to safeguard access to essential medications, they said.
“As we face an abortion access crisis in this country, state lawmakers are on the front lines of determining the future of abortion care,” said Jennifer Driver, Senior Director of Reproductive Rights at SiX. “Now, in a case that has the potential to reverberate across all 50 states, those same lawmakers are calling on the Supreme Court to intervene before the landscape for care is further decimated.”