This episode was recorded before a federal appeals court ruling partly granted the Biden administration’s request to put on hold a Texas court decision overturning FDA approval of the abortion pill. The appeals court allowed restrictions that were lifted since 2016 to be reinstated.
For details on the ruling read more here.
The appeals court decision leaves mifepristone on the market while a Justice Department appeal works its way through the courts. It overrules a lower court decision in Texas that sought to stop the sale of the drug completely.
But it did agree with one part of the ruling. It left in place a lower court order that blocked changes that the FDA has made since 2016 that made mifepristone more easily available.
The ruling means that unless the US Supreme Court intervenes by Friday, mifepristone will no longer be approved for use after the seventh week and cannot be dispensed by mail.
Bloomberg journalists Kelsey Butler, Cynthia Koons, and Madlin Mekelburg join this episode to explain what’s at stake if mifepristone becomes unavailable. And Supreme Court correspondent Greg Stohr talks about what’s ahead for these cases, which may well end up in the Justices’ hands.
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