Abortion Pill Available For Now In FL, Supreme Court Rules

FLORIDA — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday stopped a lower court’s restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone from taking effect, seen as a win for the Biden administration and for women seeking access to the abortion drug in Florida.

The justices granted emergency requests from the Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, the maker of the drug to reject limits on mifepristone’s use imposed by lower courts, at least as long as the legal case makes it way through the courts.

That means things won’t change for Florida women seeking medical abortions — at least not for now.

Access to abortion could be restricted for Florida women; state law generally prohibits abortion at 15 weeks and viability. But, a new law is pending that would lower the period of time abortions are available to six weeks.

"Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, Florida has enacted an extreme ban on abortion, which challenges the sate constitutional right to abortion," says the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The court has yet to rule on the Biden administration’s emergency request to reject any limits on the use of the drug until cases make their way through the Supreme Court.

The drug has been approved for use in the U.S. since 2000 and more than 5 million people have used it. Mifepristone is used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, in more than half of all abortions in the U.S.

The underlying issue in the case is whether the Food and Drug Administration went through the proper procedures in approving the drug. Although the court maintained FDA approval of mifepristone for now, it’s likely not the last time the court will weigh in on the issue.

Essentially, the court said, medical abortions are a state issue.

The case before the high court stems from a Texas judge’s April 7 ruling favoring the Alliance Defending Freedom. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone, the drug that is used to carry out a majority of U.S. abortions and was approved by the FDA in 2000. Kacsmaryk’s decision overruled decades of scientific approval.

Less than a week later, a federal appeals court modified the ruling so that mifepristone would remain available while the case continues, but with limits. The appeals court said that the drug can’t be mailed or dispensed as a generic and that patients who seek it need to make three in-person visits with a doctor, among other things.

The generic version of mifepristone makes up two-thirds of the supply in the United States, its manufacturer, Las Vegas-based GenBioPro Inc., wrote in a court filing that underscored the perils of allowing the restrictions to be put into effect.

The court also said the drug should only be approved through seven weeks of pregnancy for now, even though the FDA since 2016 has endorsed its use through 10 weeks of pregnancy.

The Biden administration has said the rulings conflict and create an untenable situation for the FDA, and that women who want the drug and providers who dispense it will face chaos if limits on the drug take effect.

The Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last June, and states have since put together a patchwork of abortion laws. A dozen states have enacted laws so restrictive that abortions are effectively banned.

Florida Moves To Further Restrict Abortion Access

On April 13, 2023, Florida enacted a six-week ban on abortions, which would go into effect 30 days after the Florida Supreme Court rules on the state constitutional right to privacy in a case challenging the current 15-week ban, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

"This ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks — before many women even know they're pregnant," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement issued after the vote, NPR reported.

The new Florida law contains some exceptions, including to save the woman's life. Rape or incest victims could have an abortion until 15 weeks of pregnancy if a woman has documentation such as a restraining order or police report.

Drugs used in medication-induced abortions, like mifepristone, — which make up most abortions nationwide — could be dispensed only in person or by a physician under the Florida law, NPR said.

Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a 24-hour mandatory waiting period, counseling, and an ultrasound. The state limits public funding for abortion, and generally prohibits policies sold on the state’s health-care exchange from covering abortion, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The Florida Constitution authorizes parental notification for minors and state law generally requires that a parent or legal guardian be notified and consent prior to a minor’s abortion.

While Florida enacted a telemedicine ban for the provision of abortion care, it will not go into effect until the six-week ban goes into effect.

Even in states where abortion is legal and available, providers would have to limit services to in-clinic procedural abortion if mifepristone became unavailable or switch to a misoprostol-only abortion regime, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The drug can be used alone to terminate pregnancies, but medical experts have said it is not as effective as the standard two-pill regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol.

Also, patients whose providers prescribe abortion pills during clinic visits or via telehealth would no longer be able to pick them up from participating pharmacies or in the mail.

The impact would be far greater in 10 states — Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington — where women’s access would be even more limited if providers don’t offer a regimen of misoprostol alone, according to Guttmacher.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.