Local organizations react to SCOTUS ruling on mifepristone

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- On Thursday morning, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that it is declining to hear the case of the United States Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, an anti-abortion group wants the federal government to limit access to mifepristone.

In its ruling, the SCOTUS said the group lacked legal standing to challenge FDA regulations of abortion-inducing drugs.

"Under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff ’s desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue. Nor
do the plaintiffs’ other standing theories suffice," the ruling stated. "Therefore, the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge FDA’s actions."

Right to Life Michiana Executive Director Antonio Marchi says the court may have looked at the case the wrong way.

“Much of the chatter surrounding the court’s opinion today fails to recognize that the ruling considers only the matter of the plaintiff’s legal standing and not the merits of their case," Marchi said. "Although the court’s opinion will allow access to abortion drugs to continue for now, the decision does not touch the matter of whether the use of these drugs to end pregnancy is acceptable."

According to the FDA, "mifepristone is a drug that blocks a hormone called progesterone that is needed for a pregnancy to continue. Mifepristone, when used together with another medicine called misoprostol, is used to end a pregnancy through ten weeks gestation (70 days or less since the first day of the last menstrual period)."

Planned Parenthood of Mishawaka

"While we are relieved to see this result, the truth is that we should've never gotten to this point," said Planned Parenthood Great Northwest. "From the beginning, this was a politically motivated case that completely disregards years of evidence that Mifepristone is safe and effective. Maintaining access to this FDA-approved medication was the bare minimum.

“To patients in Indiana and Kentucky, we know how important it is that all health care options remain available and accessible to you, including Mifepristone, even under the most narrow exemptions. It’s crucial that everyone can make decisions based on what’s best for their body.”