Supreme Court to hear abortion pill case today as justices weigh access to widely used drug
CBSN
Washington — The Supreme Court is set to convene Tuesday to hear arguments in a case involving a commonly used abortion pill and recent actions by the Food and Drug Administration to make the medication easier to obtain.
At the center of the legal battle is the pill mifepristone, which is taken along with another drug to terminate an early pregnancy. Approved by the FDA in 2000, more than 5 million patients have taken mifepristone, according to the agency, and studies cited in court filings have shown it is safe and effective.
In recent years, the FDA has taken a series of steps to make mifepristone more accessible, including allowing it to be taken up to 10 weeks into pregnancy and delivered through the mail without an in-person doctor's visit. Those actions, taken in 2016 and 2021, have come under legal scrutiny after a group of anti-abortion rights doctors and medical associations claimed the FDA violated the law when it relaxed the rules.
