Washington DC

The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Thursday (Jun 13) struck down a lower court's order that asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to restrict access to abortion pill mifepristone. The 9-0 ruling came as a victory for Joe Biden's administration which generally supports access to the drug nationwide.

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The court ruled that the plaintiffs, led by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, didn't have the necessary legal standing to pursue the case as they didn't use the drug themselves.

"Under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff's desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue," conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a unanimous decision.

Also read: US: Florida`s 6-week abortion ban goes into effect, draws criticism from doctors

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Notably, mifepristone is used in more than 60 per cent of total US abortions and it was approved by the FDA in 2000.

Plaintiffs' demands

The plaintiffs had sought the rolling back of FDA regulatory actions in 2016 and 2021. The action had made it easier to prescribe and distribute the drug across the country.

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The move also allowed for medication abortions at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven, and for mail delivery of the drug without a woman first seeing a clinician in-person.

They first filed a case in Texas in 2022 where US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk upheld their demands and issued an order which could force the pill off the market altogether.

Also read: US Supreme Court appears sceptical about limiting access to abortion pills

The US administration appealed the decision in New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals where the judge didn't go as far as banning the drug but ordered the FDA to roll back steps taken between 2016 and 2021.

Now, the SCOTUS has struck down that ruling as well.

A ruling in favour of the plaintiffs could have threatened the regulatory authority of the FDA over drug safety.

FDA on mifepristone's safety

According to the FDA, mifepristone is 'extremely safe' as it has been used by millions of women in the United States and the world for decades with "exceedingly rare" serious adverse events.

(With inputs from agencies)