US Supreme Court rejects bid to curb access to abortion pills
The judges ruled 9-0 on Thursday, overturning a lower court's decision last year to limit access to the medication mifepristone, which is used in more than half of all abortions in the country.
Representative Image (Photo: Reuters)
WASHINGTON DC: The United States Supreme Court has rejected a bid to restrict access to a medication used in abortions, thereby ending abortion opponents' attempts to limit access to the operation, reported Al Jazeera.
The judges ruled 9-0 on Thursday, overturning a lower court's decision last year to limit access to the medication mifepristone, which is used in more than half of all abortions in the country.
In 2016 and 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made efforts to make it easier to prescribe and distribute the medication.
A recent study found that the pill, which was approved by the FDA in 2000, is used in more than 60 per cent of abortions in the United States, according to Al Jazeera.
In 2022, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court repealed a major rule that granted abortion rights, causing fury among women's rights supporters and Democrats.
Thursday's ruling comes months before the US elections, where reproductive rights have been a major issue in the campaign.
Former President Donald Trump, who is due to face US President Joe Biden in November, selected three of the Supreme Court judges who overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 legal ruling that established the right to abortion.
Since the federal guarantee of abortion rights was revoked, dozens of Republican-controlled states have passed bans and significant limitations on access to the surgery, reported Al Jazeera.
Democrats have used abortion rights and reproductive freedom to criticise Republicans over the last two years.
On Thursday, Biden applauded the Supreme Court's decision on the abortion pill, emphasising that the ruling "does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperilled, if not impossible, in many states".
"But let's be clear: attacks on medication abortion are part of Republican elected officials' extreme and dangerous agenda to ban abortion nationwide," Biden said in a statement.
The Supreme Court concluded that the plaintiffs in the mifepristone complaint lacked the legal standing to pursue the case, which required them to demonstrate injury caused by the FDA, according to Al Jazeera report.
Abortion has been a major political issue in the United States for years.
For decades, conservative religious groups have emphasised the importance of abortion restrictions. Liberals, who reject the government's restrictions on abortion, say that the procedure is part of a woman's medical treatment, personal choices, and physical autonomy