Supreme Court preserves access to widely used abortion pill, rejecting challenge

Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge targeting the availability of a widely used abortion pill, preserving access to the drug in its first major abortion-related ruling since the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

The unanimous ruling from the justices was on procedural grounds. They determined that a group of anti-abortion rights doctors and medical associations who brought the lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration did not have the legal right to do so.

In finding they lacked legal standing, the Supreme Court did not address whether the FDA acted lawfully when it took a series of steps in 2016 and 2021 that relaxed the rules for the abortion drug mifepristone's use.