In abortion pill hearing, SCOTUS sounds skeptical of challenge to mifepristone access

It's the first major abortion rights case since Roe was overruled.

ByAlexandra Hutzler and Mary Kekatos
Last Updated: March 26, 2024, 9:02 AM EDT

A high-stakes hearing played out before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in a case that could reshape abortion access nationwide.

The justices considered a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion, which is the most common method of abortion in the country.

It is the first major reproductive rights case before the high court since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. A decision is expected by the end of June.

Key moments:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
Mar 26, 2024, 9:03 AM EDT

How we got here

Medication abortion quickly became the target of multiple lawsuits after the Supreme Court struck down Roe's guarantees to national abortion access.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas issued an unprecedented ruling suspending the FDA's initial approval of the drug (which has been on the market for nearly 25 years) because, he said, the drug was unsafe and its approval process rushed.

Kacsmaryk's order was partially blocked by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though that court held the FDA acted unlawfully when it eased rules in 2016 and 2021 to allow the pill to be mailed to patients, prescribed by a medical professional and taken later in pregnancy.

The Biden administration then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, warning the loss of access would be "damaging for women and healthcare providers" nationwide and defending the FDA's process as supported by science and decades of safe use.