March 27, 2024
SCOTUS Hearing on Mifepristone
What happened:
Remember our post about Washington State passing a law (SB 5768) last session to protect access to mife for Washingtonians? The SCOTUS ruling to follow Tuesday’s hearing is what they were preparing for. Early on Tuesday, March 26th, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard arguments on access to the medication abortion drug, mifepristone (mife).
What we thought was being challenged:
SCOTUS was initially poised to hear a case brought by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a group of anti-abortion organizations, that would revoke the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, ratified 23 years ago, as ‘safe and effective’.
What is actually being challenged:
The case SCOTUS heard on Tuesday shifted focus instead to revoking the FDA’s updated access approvals made in 2016 and 2021. In 2016 the FDA lowered the minimum dosage required and changed the administration protocols to mitigate side effects and unnecessary access barriers. A lower minimum dosage and a different delivery method not only mitigated uncomfortable side effects, but patients were now able to administer all doses of both mifepristone and misoprostol on their own, without revisiting their doctor. Eliminating the need for another unnecessary visit to the provider (who for some people are hours away with a car, if they have access to a car) significantly reduced the unnecessary burden placed on people seeking abortion care. For queer and trans people in particular, reducing unnecessary contact with the medical system is a major alleviation of burden. They also expanded the gestational time limits for medication abortion and broadened prescriber eligibility to remove some of the most challenging and medically unnecessary access barriers to safe and effective medication abortion. Most people don’t know they’re pregnant until 5 weeks of gestation. Increasing the gestational limits from 7 weeks through 10 weeks allowed significantly more people to access safe and effective at home abortion care and again removed unnecessary burdens placed on people seeking abortion care. These changes were made following rigorous scientific scrutiny and were enacted for the improved safety, access, and wellbeing of those seeking abortion care.
In 2021, in response to Covid-19, the FDA approved expanded access to medication abortion by removing requirements for in person dispensing of medication for medication abortion care and expanded dispensing rights to pharmacists. Anyone seeking abortion care can receive safe and effective guidance and care via telehealth and can protect themselves and their loved ones from the impacts of Covid we are still experiencing. The FDA made this change permanent in 2023.
The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine wants to revoke these FDA approved changes. A ruling on this case is expected this summer. (But as we have seen with this most recent and unexpected change up, we should be expecting the unexpected).
What this could mean:
A ruling against abortion rights and reproductive freedom (aka a ruling against the FDA and its scientific standards that would reverse its 2016 and 2021 improvements to medication abortion access) has far reaching implications. Such a ruling would undermine the authority of the FDA and threaten the authority of other regulatory bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It would stymy access to safe, effective, and necessary medical abortion care. It will likely open the gates for even more anti-abortion legislation to pass its way through states and up to the supreme court where further dangerous precedents could be set. What it will not do is diminish the number of abortions people have or need. People will seek out abortion care using other means and methods that are significantly less safe and may lose their lives because of it.
What’s next:
While waiting on the resulting ruling from today’s hearing, it would be helpful to stay informed about what your residency state or country is doing to protect reproductive freedoms and bodily autonomy. You can learn more about how to get involved and have your voice heard through the below listed organizations, and you can continue following the Q Center’s policy blog and instagram posts to hear more about how policy impacts Queer and Trans lives.