BestLawyerTips | News – The United States Supreme Court said on Tuesday that Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky, all Republican-governed states, could not take part in appealing the decision that will determine whether mifepristone is available or not.
In the previous month, anti-abortion groups filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the FDA’s approval of the drug but Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, District Judge in Amarillo, Texas, allowed Missouri, Kansas and Idaho to be part of this case.
In the pending case, the states will remain the parties. While today’s ruling obviously does not involve them in an appeal of Kacsmaryk’s preliminary ruling, it does deprive them of participation in the appeals court’s order that would determine the use of mifepristone and limit it significantly, including banning its use with the telemedicine for prescriptions and mail order dispensing.
The Court for the Supreme tribunal did not clarify and explain the reasons of rejection of the states’ claim, as it usually does.
The FDA has noted that the abortion groups filing the complaint are not affected by the pill’s availability, hence have no legal right to do so. Appeal will be heard on the 26th March, according to the schedule. There is an assumption that this will be a crucial issue.
All the states in question- which prohibit abortion altogether in most cases- maintain the position that they have the legal prerogative because they must use public monies to treat their residents if they had problems while undergoing the procedure and returning.
They asked the court to defend their right to take part in the appeal, which was contained in a petition that was submitted to the Supreme Court last month, stating that they should also be given the chance to present their case in the courtroom even when the court rules that the initial plaintiffs lacked standing.
The states will file a brief as a friend-of – the-court, according to the statement of the Attorney General of Missouri, Andrew Bailey, who continued that they, “look forward to continuing supporting the important work” achieved by the anti-abortion movement in the case.
After requests for a comment from the FDA and Kansas and Idaho attorneys general’s offices were not answered immediately the answers were not received straight away.
Two medicines are used for medication abortion, which is the method of abortion that has been done in almost half of abortions of the United States. FDA has approved mifepristone in 2000. Lawsuit was filed against the FDA in 2022 by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and other groups that allege that the FDA had not taken into consideration the hazards of the drug before it authorized it or afterwards when it loosened distribution limitations.
As the FDA and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists support, the drug is safe and effective within ten weeks of pregnancy when used according to prescription to end pregnancy by the drug.
The case is about U.S. Supreme Court, Number. 23-235, Food and Drug Administration v. Hippocratic Medicine Alliance.
The attorneys general are from the states of Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri and are Alan Hurst, Anthony Powell and Joshua Divine, respectively.
Source: Reuters.com