Republican Justices Keep Abortion Pill Legal (For Now)
The anti-abortion extremists are going to wait until after the election to try again.
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Thursday morning, the Supreme Court ruled to keep Mifepristone legal in FDA vs Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the case that Republicans were trying to use to ban the abortion-inducing pill. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the laughably misnamed front group for religious extremists determined to murder as many women as possible, challenged the FDA’s process for approving the drug, 24 years after it had done so.
The fact that they were claiming, with a straight face, that we can’t possibly know if Mifepristone is safe because the FDA didn’t conduct the proper studies kind of tells you how unserious this case was. Mifepristone has been in widespread use for a quarter of a century with a safety track record most drugs could only dream of.
Further, the plaintiffs in the case were doctors who claimed they might be forced to prescribe the pill against their “deeply held religious beliefs.” But the situation in which they might have to do so relied on a Rube Goldberg of circumstances. It would be like me demanding all cars be equipped with a mattress on top in case I fell out of a building and landed on one. It’s not entirely impossible but not bloody likely.
Clearly, the misogynists behind the case figured they didn’t have to put together a good case because their good friends on the Supreme Court would take care of that for them. When you’re an extremist Republican Justice, you can contort the law in any way you see fit to reach the conclusion you want.
Buuuuuut…this is an election year and the extremists have learned a valuable lesson since they overturned Roe: Fucking around with abortion is a great way to make Republicans lose elections. And keep losing. Over and over and over.
I promise you, none of them like Trump but they need him in the White House in case Thomas or Alito die. It’s all about power for these scumbags. And so this happened:
JUSTICE KAVANAUGH delivered the opinion of the Court.
In 2016 and 2021, the Food and Drug Administration relaxed its regulatory requirements for mifepristone, an abortion drug. Those changes made it easier for doctors to prescribe and pregnant women to obtain mifepristone. Several pro-life doctors and associations sued FDA, arguing that FDA’s actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act. But the plaintiffs do not prescribe or use mifepristone. And FDA is not requiring them to do or refrain from doing anything. Rather, the plaintiffs want FDA to make mifepristone more difficult for other doctors to prescribe and for pregnant women to obtain. Under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff ’s desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue. Nor do the plaintiffs’ other standing theories suffice. Therefore, the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge FDA’s actions.
Tl,dr: The people suing do not have standing (aka “It doesn’t fucking affect you so you can’t sue”). No standing equals no case. Buh-bye.
You will notice, however, that the Court did not rule specifically about the FDA and Mifepristone. Just that the “doctors” involved were not impacted in any way by the FDA’s actions so they’re not allowed to sue.
That means the next time the anti-woman lobby brings a case, they’ll do the legwork and find a proper plaintiff who is impacted. Or they’ll attack Mifepristone directly. Or they’ll find some other tactic that the Republican Justices can hang their hat on. But not during an election year. And probably not the year before, either. The earlier, the better in the hopes of letting public rage die down because I promise you, they will find a way to use the Supreme Court to ban the use of Mifepristone.
Women can still access this vital drug. But the GOP is still targeting it. This is just a much-needed reprieve for millions of women living under red-state tyranny. The only way to protect them is to take back control of the Court and the only way that happens is if we win in November.
There are 144 days until the 2024 election. Vote blue like your life depends on it.
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Do please note the irony of "no standing" in this case: this court is notorious for taking cases that clearly lack standing in order to promulgate a precedent-breaking decision that's not even required, or reasonably reachable, even for a plaintiff w an actually actionable case, to wit: the supposed website designer who felt his freedom of speech was infringed by having to design wedding pages for get couples. Except nobody had ever asked him to do that, and he not only wasn't (iirc) a web site designer, but he didn't even know about the case naming him as plaintiff. Nonetheless, the Axis of Alito granted certiorari, heard the case, and decided for the (non-existent) plaonriff.
You can be sure they will resume worse trickery after November.
If you’re a medical professional with these kinds of “deeply held religious beliefs”, put a sign on your office door, a banner on your website and a declaration on your name tag so that I will know to seek help elsewhere; and that goes for every thing from sprained ankles to brain surgery to orderlies and CEO’s of medical corporations. Having empathy is the most important skill a healer can have, if someone can’t prescribe Mifepristone to a rape victim they are simply too cold blooded for me to trust with my health, medical spending, or anything else in the world. I’ve just made an appointment for a new doctor and I will be asking about this, even though I am impregnable. I can’t think of a better way to screen for decency.