* Press release…
Following a unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that the plaintiffs in the court’s landmark mifepristone access case lack standing, Illinois Governor and Think Big America Founder JB Pritzker released the following statement:
“Today’s ruling is a small victory in our fight to protect reproductive rights. It means that mifepristone, a safe and widely used medication, will remain available for the millions of women who need it. But we know that unless we remain vigilant, this ruling will only be a temporary roadblock to MAGA extremists waging war against women’s rights. To fully protect reproductive freedom, we must ensure MAGA extremists never again control the White House or Congress. Attacks on science and on Americans’ personal freedoms will only end if voters show up and fully defeat their agenda at every level of government.”
* NPR…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out a challenge to the FDA’s rules for prescribing and dispensing abortion pills. By a unanimous vote, the court said the anti-abortion doctors who brought the challenge had failed to show they had been harmed, as they do not prescribe the medication, and thus, essentially, had no skin in the game.
The court said that the challengers, a group called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had no right to be in court at all since neither the organization nor its members could show they had suffered any concrete injury.
The court’s action amounted to a legal off-ramp, leaving the FDA rules in place, without directly addressing the regulations themselves.
The court’s decision also avoided, at least for now, a challenge to the entire structure of the FDA’s regulatory power to approve drugs and continually evaluate their safety—a system that for decades has been widely viewed as the gold standard for both safety and innovation.
* The 19th…
More than 60 percent of U.S. abortions are now done with medication, which poses an existential threat to the anti-abortion movement’s goals, since it can be transported across state lines. The movement has responded by filing lawsuits challenging how mifepristone can be used and prescribed, including in the case Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which the Supreme Court is expected to decide next month.
Republican lawmakers in GOP-led states have introduced — and in several cases enacted — legislation with the same intent. Their state attorneys general are also paying close attention to how mifepristone is prescribed and obtained and are searching for ways to discourage it.
* NYT…
More than 14,000 Texas patients crossed the border into New Mexico for an abortion last year. An additional 16,000 left Southern states bound for Illinois. And nearly 12,000 more traveled north from South Carolina and Georgia to North Carolina.
These were among the more than 171,000 patients who traveled for an abortion in 2023, new estimates show, demonstrating both the upheaval in access since the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the limits of state bans to stop the procedure. The data also highlights the unsettled nature of an issue that will test politicians up and down the ballot in November.
Out-of-state travel for abortions — either to have a procedure or obtain abortion pills — more than doubled in 2023 compared with 2019, and made up nearly a fifth of recorded abortions. On Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected a case that would have sharply curtailed access to medication abortion, allowing the pills to remain available to patients traveling from states with bans. […]
On the receiving end, nowhere saw more out-of-state patients — and from more states — than Illinois.
- Jerry - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 11:01 am:
If the ACLU supports it, it’s Conservative. They are the only organization in the country that is truly Conservative.
If Republicans support it, it might be “conservative”.
- illinifan - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 11:23 am:
Glad to hear as this drug is used for illnesses such as Cushings and uterine issues. Also it assists a woman who is already miscarrying. It has proven to be highly effective and safe. The doctors who filed the suit are still free not to prescribe this medication.
- Former Downstater - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 11:38 am:
==The doctors who filed the suit are still free not to prescribe this medication.==
Just as individuals who oppose abortion are free not to get one. And individuals who oppose gay marriage are free not to marry someone of the same sex.
Party of small government my (banned word).
- Jerry - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 11:57 am:
Just as doctors are free not to prescribe erectile dysfunction meds in order to prevent abortion.
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 12:01 pm:
It was a 9 to 0 vote it can’t be any bigger victory
- ArchPundit - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 12:12 pm:
The actual issue of the drug is likely to resurface as this was primarily about standing. Given the standing issue, it’s stunning that this got to the court, but this will not be the final word.
- Socially DIstant watcher - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 12:15 pm:
Arch is right. This ruling was not about abortion or the drugs or the FDA approvals. It will be litigated again.
- Jibba - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 12:41 pm:
This will be refiled within days by someone with standing.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 1:20 pm:
I hope this gets filed again. I hope the Republicans continue to block IVF and other common sense, legal health care options. I hope they continue until the entire Republican party can fit into a small room in the capitols of America.
- loyal virus - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 1:49 pm:
Small victory is right. Ruling basically provided a road map of how to succeed next time. Don’t get me wrong- I’m not not breathing a sigh of relief, but this is just one skirmish. (I wish militaristic language wasn’t so darn accurate)
- Da big bad wolf - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 3:05 pm:
Why did this ever reach the USSC? Don’t lower courts understand the concept of standing?
- Former Downstater - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 3:13 pm:
==Don’t lower courts understand the concept of standing?==
Yes, but they just don’t care anymore if the case provides a means to an ideological end.
See the Colorado Web designer case. That whole case centered around a fraudulent website request.
- Mason County - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 3:14 pm:
SCOTUS has made it pretty clear now. It is up to the individual states to handle this issue. And under our federal Constitution that is the correct decision.
Hopefully SCOTUS will be this consistent in any future lawsuits.
- RNUG - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 3:43 pm:
Really,nothing got decided. And yes, I know a non-decision is a decision of sorts.
SCOTUS ducked the actual abortion issue. They ruled the group suing did not have standing to bring the suit.
Just like on a number of other controversial issues, the Court found a non-political reason to maintain the current status quo.
- JoanP - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 4:35 pm:
@ RNUG -
SCOTUS didn’t “duck” anything. It is absolutely standard practice for courts to decline ti rule on constitutional issues if that is not necessary for the disposition of the case.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Jun 13, 24 @ 5:29 pm:
“It was a 9 to 0 vote it can’t be any bigger victory”
The decision could have been on the merits.
– MrJM