Supreme Court Upholds Access to Abortion Pill

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld access to a widely available abortion pill, rejecting a bid from a group of anti-abortion organizations and doctors to unravel the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the pill.

In a unanimous decision, written by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, the court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the F.D.A.’s actions.

The case had returned the issue of abortion access back to the Supreme Court, even as the conservative majority, in overturning Roe v. Wade, declared that it would cede the question “to the people and their elected representatives.” The challenge to the availability of mifepristone, a medication used in a majority of abortions in the country, reflected one of the latest fronts over abortion access.

Mifepristone is one of two drugs used in a medication abortion. It is combined with a second drug, misoprostol, to end a pregnancy.

Mifepristone blocks a hormone called progesterone that is necessary for a pregnancy to continue. Misoprostol brings on uterine contractions, causing the body to expel the pregnancy as in a miscarriage.