Supreme Court delays decision on abortion pill restrictions until Friday

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday delayed making a decision on the abortion pill restrictions until Friday, reports the Washington Post.

The Court is faced with the decision whether the drug utilized by millions of women to terminate early pregnancies nationwide would remain legally available. Former President Trump-appointed Federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk had previously ruled to end access to the FDA approved drug.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. who had earlier put on hold a lower court’s decision that imposed additional restrictions on the use of mifepristone through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, extended the stay until Friday, the Post reported.

The justices are considering a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that rolled back the FDA’s actions since 2016 allowing patients to get mifepristone through the mail, authorizing prescriptions by medical professionals other than doctors and approving the drug’s use up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy, instead of seven, the post said.

Reps. Scott Ftizgerald and Glenn Grothman were two of the 147 GOP members of Congress to sign on to a legal brief urging the Court to uphold the mifepristone ban.

Siding with anti-abortion special interests, Kacsmaryk’s ruling threatens access to safe and legal reproductive health care nationwide, a written statement from Wisconsin Democrats said.

Unilaterally overruling medical experts, Kacsmaryk issued a nationwide injunction that revoked FDA approval for a medication originally approved more than 20 years ago and used safely by millions of Americans in the decades since, according to the statement.

“It’s no surprise that the leaders of the Wisconsin GOP are once again pushing extreme restrictions on access to safe and legal abortion,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Communication Director Joe Oslund. “By signing on to this brief supporting a nationwide ban on mifepristone, Scott Fitzgerald and Glenn Grothman are making it clear they aren’t satisfied with simply forcing Wisconsinites to live under an abortion ban from 1849—they’re desperate for the rest of the country to join us.”