Appeals court backs abortion pill limits, setting up SCOTUS case

Three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans backed some limits on the abortion pill Mifepristone. However, the ruling on Wednesday, Aug. 16 cannot take effect until the Supreme Court weighs in.

The appeals court ruling partially overturned a lower court ruling that revoked the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion pill. However, Wednesday’s ruling left the following limits in tact:

• A ban on receiving Mifepristone by mail
• A reduction in when Mifepristone can be taken from up to 10 weeks of pregnancy to up to seven weeks
• A requirement that Mifepristone be taken in the presence of a doctor

The legal challenge to Mifepristone followed changes the FDA made in 2016 and 2021 to ease conditions for administering the abortion pill.

“In loosening Mifepristone’s safety restrictions, FDA failed to address several important concerns about whether the drug would be safe for the women who use it,” Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote in the panel’s decision.

The Biden administration said it would appeal the decision with the Supreme Court, who has previously intervened to keep Mifepristone available during the legal battle. Abortion rights advocates said the ruling poses a major threat to abortion availability, as well as on the access of other medications.

“As I have continually said, this lawsuit is a threat to a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body and another step towards the ultimate goal of a nationwide abortion ban. It endangers our entire system of drug approval and regulation by undermining the independent, expert judgment of the FDA,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement Wednesday. “Americans across the country should be able look in their medicine cabinets and know that FDA-approved medication prescribed by a doctor will remain available. This decision stands between doctors and their patients.”