• Discrimination > Healthcare
• Relationships & Family > Reproductive Justice

High Court Intervenes to Correct Grave Errors of Lower Federal Courts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today the U.S. Supreme Court took appropriate action and stayed the outrageous opinion issued two weeks ago by U.S. District Judge Mathew Kacsmaryk that purported to invalidate the FDA’s approval of Mifepristone, one of two drugs used as part of the most common method of terminating a pregnancy.

Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA more than 20 years ago and has since been used by more than five million people in the U.S. to end their pregnancies safely. Medication abortion helps people make their own private medical decisions and has expanded access to abortion care. Its importance has increased significantly since the High Court eliminated the fundamental right to abortion care last year, allowing those who can no longer access abortion care at a clinic, due to state restrictions and bans, another safe and effective option.

 

“Today’s decision is a relief, but it should never have come to this. This case, which is not over yet, was a travesty from day one – a cynical exercise in forum shopping by abortion opponents with no legally valid claims. The district and appellate courts displayed a shocking disregard for legal norms in granting these plaintiffs the sweeping relief they were seeking – a nationwide ban on a safe and effective medication duly approved by the FDA, a ban based not on science or the law but on ideological opposition to abortion. While the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization marked a low point for that institution, today the justices did their jobs and righted the serious wrongs below in the medication abortion case. We can breathe easier – for now – knowing that patients will retain access to this essential health care.”

NCLR Federal Policy Director Julianna S. Gonen

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The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. Since its founding, NCLR has maintained a longstanding commitment to racial and economic justice and the LGBTQ community’s most vulnerable. www.nclrights.org