The U.S. Supreme Court is due to hear arguments Tuesday over whether or not restrictions on the use and access of a commonly used abortion drug can be reinstated.
The hearing marks the high court's first abortion-related case since conservative justices overturned the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy two years ago.
A federal appeals court previously ruled to block changes made by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make the abortion drug mifepristone more accessible to the public.
The conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, which has brought cases against the Biden administration and the drug manufacturer, argues that the FDA did "not explain why it was proper" to eliminate some of the restrictions "without a study showing their cumulative safety," reported CNN.
The manufacturer of the drug, Danco Laboratories, argued to the court that the FDA does not need to cite a clinical study to make changes and that the corporation had been thorough in its previous explanations as to why it approved every particular change based on years of real-life experience.
The changes were implemented in 2016 and 2021.
In 2016, the FDA approved the use of mifepristone to be taken later in pregnancy, which extended the termination of a pregnancy from seven weeks up to 10 weeks.
In 2021, the requirements changed, no longer calling for people to pick up the medication in person. The FDA referred to the original process as the "in-person dispensing requirement," which made it mandatory for clinicians to directly supply the drug to a patient in an office or clinic.
Patients were able to receive mifepristone through the mail and also allowed for people to be prescribed the drug in a virtual capacity, including in states where abortion and telehealth are not banned.
There were more than 1 million abortions in the US in 2023, the highest rate in more than a decade and a 10% jump from 2020, according to a report released by the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights.
Mifepristone is one of two drugs, along with misoprostol, used in medication abortions, AP reported: more than 6 million people have used mifepristone since 2000.
Should the court side with anti-abortion activists who originally filed the case against the FDA, medication abortion access could become at risk nationwide, possibly halting the delivery of mifepristone through the mail and at large pharmacy chains, reducing the period in pregnancy when it can be used from 10 to seven weeks and ending increasingly popular telehealth visits at which the drug can be prescribed, the Associated Press reports.
Anti-abortion doctors and medical organizations argue that the FDA's decisions in 2016 and 2021 to relax restrictions on getting the drug were unreasonable and "jeopardize women's health across the nation," AP reported.
