The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are getting ready to hear a controversial case regarding pills that are used to carry out abortions.
Fox News reports that the justices are scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
"Oral arguments are scheduled for Tuesday with a ruling expected about three months later, with the race for the next president in full swing," the outlet reports.
Fox describes the case as one with "high stakes," noting that the justices ruling could have "enormous legal, social, and political implications."
The reader will likely remember that the justices, not too long ago, overturned the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade, returning the controversial abortion issue back to the American people and their state legislatures. The case that the justices will hear on Tuesday is a different kind of abortion case.
The case - FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine - has to do with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) removal of safety restrictions for the abortion pill mifepristone.
The lawsuit has been brought against the U.S. government by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Erik Baptist, one of the group's senior counselors, recently put out a statement on the matter.
"]I]n recent years, the FDA has recklessly removed nearly every safeguard the agency previously considered necessary for abortion drugs, including in-person doctor visits to check for ectopic pregnancies, severe bleeding, and life-threatening infections," he said.
Baptist added, "Without question, the FDA’s actions made taking high-risk abortion drugs less safe for women.
The overarching issue in the case is whether the federal government's approval process for mifepristone was proper. The Biden administration says that it was, while ADF says otherwise.
The judges at the lower court levels agreed with ADF, according to Fox, finding that "the FDA did not fully consider the potential health risks to women when amending guidelines for mifepristone eight years ago."
These lower court rulings stopped the FDA from distributing mifepristone without the safety protocols that the ADF says ought to be required.
This is the decision that the Biden administration has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The importance of this case cannot be understated. Fox reports:
New data from the Guttmacher Institute research group indicates nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023 rely on mifepristone. Abortion rights groups say the drug has been proven safe and that the court's decision could negatively impact 40 million women nationwide.
