Groups Ask Supreme Court to Reinstate Restrictions on Abortion Pill Access

WEDNESDAY, April 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- In the latest move to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone in the United States, a coalition of anti-abortion groups on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to allow an appeals court ruling to stand.

That ruling, issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last week, would ratchet back recent changes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made to ease access to the drug. The ruling would effectively prevent distribution of mifepristone by mail and require more doctor visits to get the medication.

Over decades, the FDA has "stripped away every meaningful and necessary safeguard on chemical abortion, demonstrating callous disregard for women's well-being, unborn life, and statutory limits," the court filing from the groups led by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine stated. "The lower courts' meticulous decisions do not second-guess the agency's scientific determinations; they merely require the agency to follow the law," lawyers for the group added.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice and drugmaker Danco Laboratories have already asked the Supreme Court to block the appeals court ruling. The high court put the ruling on hold last Friday, but it must take its next steps by midnight Wednesday.

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