The Supreme Court rejected an attempt to restrict the market for the abortion pill mifepristone, ruling unanimously that the plaintiffs lacked standing to do so.
Numerous anti-abortion medical associations and several doctors opposed the loosening of restrictions on access to the drug by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
However, the judges ruled that the plaintiffs did not have standing because they were “unregulated parties seeking to challenge the FDA’s regulation of others.”
“Plaintiffs have serious legal, moral, ideological, and political objections to voluntary abortion and the FDA’s lax regulation of mifepristone,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in his opinion. “But under Article III of the Constitution, such objections alone do not constitute a litigable case or issue in federal court.”
Kavanaugh wrote: “Here, plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that FDA’s lax regulatory requirements would actually cause them harm. For this reason, the federal courts
are the wrong forum to address plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions. Plaintiffs can raise their concerns and objections to the President and FDA in the regulatory process or to Congress and the President in the legislative process. And they can also express their views about abortion and mifepristone to their fellow citizens, including in the political and electoral process.”
Read the Supreme Court’s opinion on abortion drugs.
The ruling was closely watched in light of the Supreme Court’s decision two years ago in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Democrats have taken advantage of the backlash to the Dobbs ruling, as polls have consistently shown voters support federal abortion rights.
The Supreme Court has yet to rule on several other cases that could impact the 2024 election. First and foremost is a decision on whether former President Donald Trump enjoys immunity that protects him from some or all federal prosecutions for his efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election.
Just a few blocks from the courthouse, Trump met behind closed doors with Republican lawmakers today to discuss his agenda should he win another term. It is Trump’s first visit to Capitol Hill since 2020 and since the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The Supreme Court will publish further rulings from its term in office on Friday.
There’s more to come.