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A federal appeals court in the United States ruled on Wednesday in favor of reinstating restrictions on access to the abortion pill, but this decision will have no practical effect until the Supreme Court rules.
This decision, if confirmed, would result in particular in a return to a limit of seven weeks of pregnancy instead of ten, a ban on sending the abortion pill by post, and the reinstatement of the obligation of prescription by a doctor.
It follows a hearing held in May before an appeals court located in New Orleans (southeast) on access to mifepristone (RU 486) which, combined with another stamp, was used by 5 .6 million women since its approval by the American Medicines Agency (FDA) in 2000.
It concerns the suspension in April, by a federal court of first instance, of the marketing authorization for mifepristone, evoking – despite the scientific consensus – risks for the health of women.
The Democratic administration had appealed urgently and the Supreme Court had restored the approval of this pill, while the procedure continued.
The Court of Appeal breaks the suspension of the authorization of the pill in 2000 and the generic in 2019 but grants part of the requests of the plaintiffs, associations of doctors or practitioners hostile to abortion, by confirming the suspension access restrictions decided by the FDA since 2016.
“Mifeprex will remain available under the restrictions in force before 2016” just like the generic of mifepristone, say the judges, while stressing that their decision will have no practical consequences until the Supreme Court has ruled one way or the other.
