The Supreme Court on Friday preserved women’s access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion, rejecting lower-court restrictions while a lawsuit continues.
Women seeking to end their pregnancies in the first 10 weeks without
more invasive surgical abortion can take mifepristone, along with
misoprostol.
According to an AP report, abortion opponents filed a lawsuit in Texas in November, asserting that the FDA’s original approval of mifepristone 23 years ago and subsequent changes were flawed. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled in their favor on April 7, revoking FDA approval of mifepristone. The judge gave the Biden administration and Danco Laboratories a week to appeal and seek to keep his ruling on hold.
Responding to a quick appeal, Judges Andrew Oldham and Kurt Engelhardt said the FDA’s original approval would stand for now, but most of the rest of Kacsmaryk’s ruling could take effect while the case winds through federal courts.
As AP notes, “The challenge to mifepristone is the first abortion controversy to reach the nation’s highest court since its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade 10 months ago and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright. In his majority opinion last June, Alito said one reason for overturning Roe was to remove federal courts from the abortion fight. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” he wrote.
According to Webmd, Mifepristone (also known as RU 486) is used to end a pregnancy during the early part of a pregnancy. It is used up to week 10 of pregnancy. Mifepristone blocks a natural substance (progesterone) that is needed for a pregnancy to continue. It is usually used together with another medicine called misoprostol. Mifepristone must not by anyone with a rare abnormal pregnancy that is outside the womb (ectopic pregnancy). It will not end the pregnancy in this case.
And according to Planned Parenthood, “Mifepristone is the first of two medications used in a medication abortion (also known as the ‘abortion pill’). Mifepristone has been safe and legal in the United States since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the brand name Mifeprex nearly 20 years ago. In April 2019, the FDA approved the first generic form of mifepristone, following a review of the evidence that medication abortion is a safe, effective way to end an early pregnancy — with a safety record of over 99%.”
“As a result of the Supreme Court’s stay, mifepristone remains available and approved for safe and effective use while we continue this fight in the courts,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement. “The stakes could not be higher for women across America. I will continue to fight politically-driven attacks on women’s health.
“But let’s be clear – the American people must continue to use their vote as
their voice, and elect a Congress who will pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v Wade.”
This new case, surely one among many to come, demonstrates the need to strengthen the rights of women to receive an abortion if they so desire and in the manner they wish. The infuriating Republican intrusion on the rights of women in America should serve as a reminder that freedom and liberty is subjective.
Women and girls in today’s society enjoy many more rights than we used to, but we still have a long way to go. Women in America still face various forms of disadvantage despite significant progress in advancing gender equality. Women continue to be paid less than men for doing the same work, with the gender pay gap being around 82 cents to every dollar earned by men. This gap is even larger for women of color, such as Black and Latina women.
Women are also underrepresented in leadership positions and political office. We make up only a small fraction of CEOs, board members, and elected officials, despite comprising nearly half of the workforce and population. This lack of representation can limit the perspectives and ideas that are brought to decision-making tables.
Gender-based violence also remains a pervasive issue in America. One in three women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, and the vast majority of these crimes are committed by men. Women also face a significant risk of sexual harassment in the workplace, which can lead to a hostile work environment and limit their career opportunities.
With so many issues still at stake, women cannot allow a lower court to block our rightful access to an abortion pill we have been taking for years. Our very freedom depends on it.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Chloe Atkinson.
Chloe Atkinson | Radio Free (2023-04-25T05:16:30+00:00) The Fight Over a Pill – and the Freedom of Women. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2023/04/25/the-fight-over-a-pill-and-the-freedom-of-women/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.