BREAKING: Supreme Court Dismisses Challenge to Medication Abortion on a Technicality as Attacks on Reproductive Freedom Continue to Escalate

Decision in SCOTUS case that could restrict access to lifesaving care nationwide still pending

WASHINGTON, DC –– Today, the Supreme Court dismissed the legal challenge to the abortion medication mifepristone in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. For now, medication abortion – a safe and effective FDA approved method for ending a pregnancy up to 10-weeks – will remain available, but anti-abortion extremists are more emboldened than ever, and restrictions on access to all forms of reproductive health care, including medication abortion, will continue. 

Medication abortion accounts for over half of all abortions in the United States, and in 2023, mifepristone was used in 63 percent of all abortions. More than six in ten Americans favor keeping mifepristone available. as a prescription drug, and it’s clear why: Medication abortion gives patients the power to safely terminate their pregnancies in the comfort and privacy of their homes.

Despite its popularity, anti-abortion extremists remain committed to restricting access to medication abortion, and they will use any tool at their disposal to do it, including manipulating the Comstock Act. Originally enacted over 150 years ago, the Comstock Act is an obscure anti-obscenity law. Anti-abortion lawmakers are using the Comstock Act, a 150-year-old law, to ban medication abortion, even in states where it is protected.

Given the gravity of the Comstock Act, awareness is alarmingly low. New polling from Navigator Research and Global Strategy Group finds that two in three Americans are unaware of its existence or its potential implications, but seven in ten Americans oppose the law after learning more context, and support changing it by a nearly 40-point margin. 

In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, patients and advocates from across the country released statements highlighting what is at stake as attacks on reproductive freedom continue.

“When my birth control failed and I became pregnant for the second time, my entire life turned upside down. I went from being my family’s breadwinner and the main caretaker of my son to being so physically ill that I was not able to get off of the couch, said Anastasia Soluna from Madison, Wisconsin. “Within hours of taking abortion medication, I could sit up and hold my child again. The next day, I was playing with him and able to go back to work. While today’s Supreme Court upholds access to medication abortion, it is clear that the attacks on this critical form of reproductive health care won’t stop here. People across the country must be able to continue to access the abortion care they need.” 

“If I wasn’t able to access a medication abortion as a college student, I would have taken my own life,” said Emma Burns from Flagstaff, Arizona. “Because of Arizona’s hostile abortion landscape and unnecessary regulations, I was almost unable to receive the medication I needed. This is what anti-abortion lawmakers want for people across the country, and they will do whatever it takes to ban abortion nationwide.”

“Access to medication abortion saved my life,” said Carrie Frail, an Air Force Veteran in Missouri who credits medication abortion with allowing her to escape an abusive relationship. “Restrictions on abortion access exacerbate the effects of domestic violence and threaten women’s lives. Although the Supreme Court’s decision today does not limit access to the abortion pill at this moment, women’s lives, like mine, will continue to be on the line as attacks on abortion access and reproductive freedom continue across the country.”

“Let’s be clear – the Supreme Court dismissing this case is not a reprieve from attacks on abortion access, including medication abortion,” said Veronica Ingham, Senior Campaigns Director for Free & Just. “As we await a decision in Idaho and Moyle, et al. v. United States, the case that could put lifesaving emergency care out of reach for women across the country, we must remember that extremist lawmakers will not stop until abortion is banned across the country.”

Soon, the Supreme Court will issue a decision in Idaho and Moyle, et al. v. United States, a pending Supreme Court case that could gut the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), a nearly forty year old law that guarantees that pregnant women experiencing medical emergencies can receive lifesaving care at hospitals across the country. If the Court sides with anti-abortion extremists, women across the country – even in states where abortion access is still legally protected – will be denied care when they need it most. 

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If you are interested in speaking with any of the storytellers quoted above, please contact kelly@freeandjust.us.