It could become harder for Californians to get access to one of the drugs used in medication abortions, depending on how the Supreme Court rules this summer.
The high court will hear arguments Tuesday in a case brought by the conservative group Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, challenging policies that expand access to the drug mifepristone.
The medication is used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, in a majority of abortions nationwide.
The case is the court’s first significant return to the abortion issue since the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. If the court restricts access, health care for millions could be affected, including in California and other states that protect abortion rights.
California voters added access to abortion and contraception as a protected right in the state constitution in 2022, but a ruling from the high court would supersede that.
What is the case?
The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a group of anti-abortion emergency room doctors, filed the legal challenge. They claim the federal Food and Drug Administration overlooked the health risks of the drug at the time it was approved in 2000 and again when the agency later approved wider access to the drug in 2016 and 2021 through telemedicine, mail delivery and prescribing by pharmacists. The court will only consider the actions that broadened access to the drug.
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