US Supreme Court extends hold on abortion pill restrictions

Post Reply
newspotted
Site Admin
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:56 pm
Contact:

US Supreme Court extends hold on abortion pill restrictions

Post by newspotted »

Image
US members of Congress hold signs calling for equal abortion access on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 19, 2023AFP

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily preserved access to a widely-used abortion pill, delaying its decision on lower court rulings placing restrictions on the drug.

Without commenting on the merits of the case, the nation’s highest court extended an administrative stay freezing the lower court decisions until midnight Friday (0400 GMT Saturday).

The initial stay came after the Justice Department filed an emergency appeal asking the court to block the lower court rulings that would have banned or limited use of mifepristone, which accounts for more than half of the abortions in the United States.

That stay had been scheduled to expire at midnight Wednesday and the court, in an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito, opted to extend the hold on the rulings for two more days.

The extension gives the court more time to decide what to do with the divisive case, the most significant on reproductive rights since it tossed out the constitutional right to abortion last year in an opinion penned by Alito, a conservative.

The nine-member panel can rule in any number of ways, and abortion rights and anti-abortion activists—as well as millions of Americans—have been on tenterhooks waiting to see how the conservative-dominated court proceeds.

The case stems from a ruling this month by a US District Court judge in Texas that would have banned mifepristone, which was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000.

An appeals court blocked a ban on the pill, but imposed tough restrictions on access, after which the baton was handed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, where conservatives wield a 6-3 majority, on Friday temporarily stayed the lower court rulings as it weighs what to do next.

Read more.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests