The American Supreme Court overturned, Thursday, June 13, a court decision reinstating a series of restrictions on access to mifepristone, a pill used in the majority of abortions in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States in 2023 (63%) were performed medically, the Guttmacher Institute, a specialized research center, reported in March.
In their unanimous ruling, the nine judges of the court, with a conservative majority, deny the“interest in acting”, condition for taking legal action, plaintiffs – associations of doctors or practitioners hostile to abortion who do not prescribe or use this pill. They therefore annul the appeal decision.
An appeals court, made up of ultraconservative judges, had reinstated in 2023 several of the restrictions on access to mifepristone, a pill used for medical abortions, lifted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American agency responsible for control. health and trade of food and medicines, since 2016.
“Plaintiffs have not demonstrated that the relaxation of FDA rules would likely actually harm them”wrote in his decision on behalf of the Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “For this reason, the federal courts are not the appropriate avenue to address plaintiffs’ concerns about the FDA’s actions.”he adds, adding that they can seize the executive or legislative power.
Citing potential risks that have been ruled out by scientific consensus, the appeal decision, if confirmed, would have reduced the limit of ten weeks of pregnancy to seven, prohibited the sending of the tablets by post and made the delivery of the tablets compulsory once again. prescription exclusively by a doctor.
A campaign axis
By its historic judgment of June 2022 canceling the federal guarantee of the right to abortion, the Supreme Court gave states full latitude to legislate in this area. Since then, around twenty states have banned abortion, whether carried out by medication or surgery, or have strictly regulated it.
Joe Biden has made the protection of the right to abortion a focus of his campaign for the November presidential election against his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, whose appointments to the Supreme Court resulted in the reversal of jurisprudence in June 2022. The American president also expressed himself following this decision by affirming that “ the struggle » for the right to continued abortion.