U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Tuesday that the anti-abortion groups and doctors seeking to limit access to the abortion pill have the needed legal standing to pursue the case, as President Joe Biden’s administration fights to maintain broad access to the medication.
The justices heard arguments in the Biden administration’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that would limit how the medication, called mifepristone, is prescribed and distributed. Four medical associations and four doctors who oppose abortion brought the challenge to mifepristone in Texas. The case places reproductive rights back on the agenda of the justices in a presidential election year.
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulatory changes at risk in the case include allowing for medication abortions at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven, and for mail delivery of the drug without a woman first seeing a clinician in-person.
Arguing for the administration, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that the plaintiffs lacked the proper legal standing to bring the challenge and asked the court to “put an end to this case.” Prelogar said the plaintiffs failed to show, as necessary, that they have been harmed in a way that can be traced to the FDA.
The plaintiffs do not come “within 100 miles of the kinds of circumstances” needed to show legal injury, Prelogar said.
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the court’s 2022 ruling overturning its 1973 Roe v. Wade precedent that had recognized a constitutional right to abortion, challenged Prelogar to identify who could sue the FDA.
