Abortion pill restrictions would be 'damaging for women,' Biden admin tells Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to maintain broad access to the drug most commonly used for medication abortions, arguing that restrictions on its availability would be harmful to women across the nation.

Both the administration and drugmaker Danco filed briefs laying out their arguments in defense of several Food and Drug Administration decisions that among other things made the mifepristone pill available by mail. Danco makes the brand version of the pill, Mifeprex.

"The loss of access to mifepristone would be damaging for women and healthcare providers around the nation," Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in the government's brief.

"For many patients, mifepristone is the best method to lawfully terminate their early pregnancies. They may choose mifepristone over surgical abortion because of medical necessity, a desire for privacy, or past trauma," she added.

Prelgoar said the FDA approvals in question were supported not just by scientific studies but also "decades of safe use of mifepristone by millions of women in the United States and around the world."

Oral arguments have not yet been scheduled but are set to be held in early spring with a ruling expected by the end of June.

The challenge to mifepristone approval was brought by a group of doctors and other medical professionals represented by the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. They say that the FDA’s 2000 approval was flawed, as were later decisions that made the drug easier to access, in part because they failed to take into account safety risks to women. The FDA and Danco say that serious adverse effects are “exceedingly rare.”

In Danco's separate brief, lawyers for the company said