WASHINGTON, D.C., June 13, 2024 – Today the Supreme Court issued its decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, dismissing the challenges to how the abortion pill mifepristone is accessed. Tossing the case on standing, the Court concluded that the anti-abortion doctors who brought this suit do not have standing to challenging the FDA’s authorization of the drug. The medication is safe — for now.
In a unanimous opinion by Justice Kavanaugh, the Court explains that if the doctors have concerns, there are already conscience protections that will allow them to deny care to the patients who need it. The availability of mifepristone has no direct impact on them. The decision references the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which is at stake in another case, as contributing to the protections already provided to the doctors.
Alliance for Justice Vice President of Strategy Keith Thirion issued the following statement:
“It cannot be overstated how offensive this case was. Doctors, in the name of the Hippocratic Oath, argued that they shouldn’t have to treat the patients before them if they are facing complications related to an abortion — even though they had no part in performing the abortion. It’s troubling that such a claim was ever entertained in any court room, let alone at the nation’s highest court. Today’s ruling guarantees continued access to a safe medication used in more than half the nation’s abortions, but only until the next challenge is filed. We know that lower-court judges like Matthew Kacsmaryk and those on the Fifth Circuit are chomping at the bit for another opportunity to rule against it and we know the anti-abortion movement won’t stop coming. We need to act now to staff our courts with fair-minded judges who will protect our rights and freedoms.”