{"id":1024,"date":"2024-01-15T07:07:41","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T07:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/?page_id=1024"},"modified":"2024-01-15T08:17:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T08:17:10","slug":"women_detail_9","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/?page_id=1024","title":{"rendered":"WOMEN_DETAIL_9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\">WOMEN<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\"><strong>AUGUST 16, 2023<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to Know About the Latest Court Ruling on the Abortion Pill<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The upshot: Don\u2019t panic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:15% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" src=\"http:\/\/aiecasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/PauleyMadison-2-web.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-930 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>MADISON PAULY<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Reporter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" src=\"http:\/\/aiecasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2023-08-16-abortion-pills.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1056\" style=\"width:760px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2023-08-16-abortion-pills.webp 768w, https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2023-08-16-abortion-pills-300x169.webp 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Olga Fedorova \/SOPA Images\/Sipa USA\/AP<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Earlier this spring, the Supreme Court hit pause on a controversial ruling in a massive anti-abortion lawsuit with the potential to eliminate nationwide access to the most common method of abortion.\u00a0The case, brought by anti-abortion organizations and doctors, challenged the FDA\u2019s two-decade-old approval of mifepristone, a pill used in medication abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In April,\u00a0a far-right federal district court judge in Texas had\u00a0sided with the anti-abortion doctors,\u00a0issuing an unprecedented order to suspend mifepristone\u2019s approval. But before his decision could take effect, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court\u00a0to\u00a0step in\u00a0and pause the order while it went through appeals. The Court agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Wednesday afternoon, the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision\u00a0on the appeal,\u00a0meaning the case is one step closer to reaching the Supreme Court. The Fifth Circuit\u00a0ruled\u00a0that the anti-abortion doctors had waited too long to challenge mifepristone\u2019s FDA 2000 approval\u2014and it also found that the FDA had acted improperly in 2016 and 2021, when it relaxed some rules around how mifepristone can be prescribed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\u00a0Fifth Circuit\u2019s decision\u00a0contains bad news for parties on both sides of the case. But because of the Supreme Court\u2019s prior order, the ruling doesn\u2019t have much practical effect\u2014at least for now. \u201cThis opinion changes nothing on the ground whatsoever,\u201d says Drexel University law professor David Cohen. \u201cMifepristone is available the same way today as it was yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next stop for the lawsuit is still the Supreme Court. If SCOTUS takes the case, the justices would have the final word on mifepristone\u2014upholding or invalidating the FDA\u2019s approval, or throwing out the challenge altogether for procedural reasons. \u201cThey could do whatever they want,\u201d says Mary Ziegler, a reproductive law expert at the University of California, Davis. According to Ziegler, the court could use the case as an opportunity to weigh in on the\u00a0Comstock Act, a 19th century anti-obscenity law that abortion-rights opponents are\u00a0trying to use to ban abortion nationwide.\u00a0Their claim\u00a0is that the old law, which makes it a crime to mail any \u201carticle or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion,\u201d can\u00a0be enforced.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the Supreme Court takes the case, \u201ceverything is on the table,\u201d Cohen says. \u201cEverything from saying, \u2018Everything the FDA has done is perfectly fine, go about your business,\u2019 to \u2018these people didn\u2019t have standing in the first place.&#8217;\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet if the Supreme Court decides not to take the case, the Fifth Circuit\u2019s decision on Wednesday would suddenly become relevant. FDA rules for prescribing mifepristone would snap back to the pre-2016 version, when use of the medication was restricted to patients under 7 weeks\u2019 gestation, rather than 10 weeks. Currently, the FDA allows doctors to prescribe mifepristone by telehealth; if the Fifth Circuit ruling takes effect, patients would be required to visit doctors\u2019 offices three times in person to complete a medication abortion, and virtual clinics would be eliminated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s some debate among legal scholars over the extent to which doctors would be forced to follow some of these old FDA rules. According to Rachel Rebouch\u00e9, dean at Temple University\u2019s law school, providers could potentially still prescribe mifepristone off-label beyond the seven-week mark of pregnancy\u2014especially since the World Health Organization<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>says mifepristone is\u00a0safe and effective\u00a0through 12 weeks. But mifepristone might still become temporarily inaccessible, Ziegler says, because existing stock of the drug would suddenly be mislabeled. \u201cBefore any mifepristone could be used, it would have to be relabeled,\u201d Ziegler explains. \u201cSo, for a time, it could mean no mifepristone access.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even\u00a0in the worst-case scenario, where\u00a0access to mifepristone is wiped out, medication abortion\u00a0won\u2019t be going away.\u00a0Since the spring, in anticipation of restrictive rulings from abortion-hostile courts, providers have been\u00a0preparing to offer medication abortion\u00a0using a different medication called misoprostol. Typically, misoprostol is used in combination with mifepristone, but it also works on its own\u2014it\u2019s just more painful, and slightly less effective. \u201cNothing affects misoprostol only abortions regardless of whether the 5th Circuit\u2019s opinion ultimately takes effect,\u201d Rebouch\u00e9 writes in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the Supreme Court\u2019s April decision to pause the Texas judge\u2019s order is a good sign for abortion-rights supporters. \u201cUsually the Supreme Court doesn\u2019t do what it did, if it thinks the plaintiffs are going to win on the merits,\u201d Ziegler explains. Greer Donley, an expert on abortion law at the University of Pittsburgh, agrees. \u201cThe Supreme Court could do anything when it takes the case, so it&nbsp;<em>could<\/em>&nbsp;invalidate the drug approvals,\u201d she writes. \u201cIt is more likely that if the Supreme Court took the case\u2026it would invalidate the entirety of the district court\u2019s order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The big takeaway from Wednesday\u2019s ruling? Don\u2019t panic. Access to mifepristone isn\u2019t changing today. \u201cThe high, high likelihood is that this Fifth Circuit ruling is going to be a historical aside with absolutely no ramifications for what ultimately happens,\u201d Cohen says.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What to Know About the Latest Court Ruling on the Abortion Pill Earlier this spring, the Supreme Court hit pause on a controversial ruling in a massive anti-abortion lawsuit with the potential to eliminate nationwide access to the most common method of abortion.\u00a0The case, brought by anti-abortion organizations and doctors, challenged the FDA\u2019s two-decade-old approval&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/?page_id=1024\" class=\"\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">WOMEN_DETAIL_9<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":519,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"on","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":"","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1060,"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1024\/revisions\/1060"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aiecasia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}