The apex court extended till Friday midnight the administrative stay that stayed the lower court’s decisions.
Washington:
The US Supreme Court temporarily protected access to a widely used abortion pill on Wednesday, deferring its ruling on lower court rulings that banned the drug.
Without commenting on the merits of the case, the country’s highest court extended until Friday midnight (0400 GMT Saturday) an administrative stay blocking lower court rulings.
The initial stay came after the Justice Department filed an emergency appeal asking the court to halt lower court rulings that would have banned or limited the use of mifepristone, which accounts for more than half of abortions in the United States. is responsible for.
That stay was set to expire at midnight Wednesday and the court, in an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito, opted to hold off on rulings for two more days.
The extension gives the court more time to decide what to do with the divisive case, the most important on reproductive rights since it last year rejected the constitutional right to abortion in an opinion authored by Alito.
The nine-member panel could rule either way, and abortion rights and anti-abortion activists — as well as millions of Americans — are waiting to see how the conservative-dominated court proceeds.
The case stems from a ruling given this month by a US District Court judge in Texas that banned mifepristone, which was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000.
An appeals court struck down the ban on the tablet but imposed tighter restrictions on access, after which the baton was passed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, where conservatives have a 6-3 majority, on Friday temporarily blocked lower court rulings as it decides what to do next.
The court may decide to freeze the lower court rulings pending appeals by the Justice Department and mifepristone maker Danko Laboratories.
It could also allow rulings restricting access to the abortion pill to take effect while the case is pending at the appellate level.
The court itself may also decide to hear arguments expeditiously in this matter.
Complicating matters even further is a separate federal court ruling in Washington state that states that access to mifepristone must be maintained.
– ‘Clear Choice’ –
Since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that established the constitutional right to abortion for half a century, 13 states have banned abortion and severely restricted it in others.
Democratic Representative Katherine Clark said Wednesday that there is a “clear choice” before the court.
“Uphold legal and scientific fact or surrender to mega-extremism,” Clark said in a reference to former Republican President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“This case marks the latest attack in the MAGA crusade on reproductive freedom,” Clarke told reporters. “Republicans Have One Goal – A Nationwide Abortion Ban.”
The legal attack on the abortion pill is being opposed by the Justice Department, which argued that the initial federal judge’s ruling was based on a “deeply misguided assessment” of the pill’s safety.
Mifepristone is one component of a two-drug regimen that can be used up to the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. It has a long safety record, and the FDA estimates that 5.6 million Americans have used it to terminate pregnancies since it was approved.
The appeals court overturned the ban on mifepristone, limiting its use to seven weeks of pregnancy, down from 10, and banning delivery by mail.
Polls repeatedly show that a clear majority of Americans support continued access to safe abortion, even as conservative groups push to limit the procedure — or ban it outright.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)