The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a decision made by a Texas U.S. District Judge trying to pause the mail-in method of delivering Mifepristone, a form of medicated abortion.

Matthew Kacsmaryk is a Texas-based judge who has made his anti-abortion stance clear since stepping into office in 2019. When discussing his opposition to allowing minors to receive birth control without their parent’s consent, he regarded it as unlawful. According to CNN “‘Defendants’ administration of the Title X program violates the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children and Texas Family Code,’” Kacsmaryk wrote.

Kacsmaryk has returned to the issue of birth control and abortion laws, attempting a triumph for anti-abortionists throughout the nation.

Back in 2000, the FDA approved Mifepristone as a form of abortion that can be taken orally, which expands yet another method of abortion for those struggling to find care. Since its approval two decades ago, the pill has rapidly increased in popularity. According to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights group, “medication abortion accounted for 54% of all abortions” in the United States.

Mifepristone can be used with another pill Misoprostol (both FDA approved) to block progesterone, a hormone that is essential to developing a pregnancy, and later empty the uterus by causing cramping and bleeding (similar to an early miscarriage). The FDA rules medication abortion as a safe and highly effective method. On their website, it says that it was approved “more than 20 years ago based on a thorough and comprehensive review of the scientific evidence presented and determined that it was safe and effective for its indicated use.”

Despite all of this, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, an alliance of anti-abortion groups, have filed a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, as they allege that there has not been enough thorough research about its safety: this is now a nationwide issue.

In Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling in which he attempted to block mifepristone’s ability to be mailed to users (a first step in trying to block its use altogether), he allowed for a 7-day window for appeal, in which it immediately was and has since been sent to the Supreme Court for a closer look.

According to NBC, “Mifepristone is still available in the 37 states that legally allow some form of medication abortion. The Supreme Court’s decision upholds that status quo for now, at least until the 5th Circuit takes the case again in mid-May and the legal process continues.”

Senior Adam Helwani questioned, “What makes this dude think he could do that? It has no relevance to him.”

Trisha Vyas, another senior at Hills, said, “If a method to preserve the safety and choice of a woman is possible, which will only affect her and not danger others, what’s wrong with that? What people need to understand at the end of the day is that women will get abortions whether it is legal or not. It is a matter of being safe or not for pregnant women. So, I believe that the judge in Texas trying to take away a pill that can make abortions safer for women does not really care about the welfare and “life” of women..”

Ever since the ruling of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022 which essentially allows individual states to enforce their own abortion laws (hence protecting its banning), some states have taken it upon themselves to restrict them altogether. The case has returned to the 5th circuit where oral arguments have been scheduled for May 17.

The link below contains a chart detailing individual state laws approving or banning medication abortion.

The Availability and Use of Medication Abortion