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The Supreme Court Takes up the Abortion Pill: What You Need To Know

How another landmark case before the high court could affect abortion access nationwide.

Pocket Editors

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Updated: 4/19/2023, 7 a.m. ET

Today, more than half of all abortions in the U.S. involve patients taking a combination of two medications — mifepristone and misoprostol — in order to end a pregnancy at home. This protocol, called medication abortion or colloquially, the abortion pill, has been used by around 5 million women since the FDA first gave its stamp of approval to the practice in 2000.

Now, medication abortion is in jeopardy. A rapidly-moving court battle that began when a U.S. District Judge appointed by former President Trump suspended the FDA’s decades-old approval of mifepristone is headed to the Supreme Court.

Read on to learn more about the unprecedented nature of the case, how abortion clinics are responding, the potential consequences for how drugs are regulated in the U.S., and the possible electoral calculus of another landmark court decision on abortion less than a year Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Image by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

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The ramifications could be felt for decades.

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Several Democratic governors have moved swiftly to protect access to medication abortion in their states.

What Happens if Access to the Abortion Pill Mifepristone Gets Cut Off?

Abortion clinics are preparing to administer just one pill, misoprostol, to terminate pregnancies if a federal judge's ruling goes into effect suspending the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, the other drug used in a medication abortion.

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