Takeaways from Supreme Court ruling: Abortion pill still available but opponents say fight not over

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court unanimously upheld access to a drug used in the majority of U.S. abortions on Thursday, though abortion opponents say the ruling won’t be the last word in the fight over mifepristone.

The narrow decision came two years after the high court overturned the nationwide right to abortion. Rather than fully dive into the issue, the high court found that anti-abortion doctors lacked the legal right to sue.

That could leave an opening for anti-abortion states or other opponents to keep up the fight.

Some takeaways from the decision:

What does this say about the Supreme Court and abortion?

Not necessarily very much. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was part of the court majority two years ago to overturn Roe, employed a minimalist approach in the opinion that seemed designed to sidestep disagreements and arrive at a unanimous outcome.

The court found that the abortion opponents couldn’t sue because they weren’t actually injured by the medication, in part because federal laws protect doctors from performing abortions if they object.

The court did not address whether the FDA ultimately adhered to the law when it made changes to relax access to mifepristone, including allowing telehealth prescribing and mail delivery to patients. It said opponents could go elsewhere with their arguments, like to the president or the FDA.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Abortion pill access is unchanged after the Supreme Court’s decision. Here’s what you