U.S. Supreme Court temporarily extends access to abortion pill mifepristone

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily extended women’s access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

The Justices originally had until 11:59pm ET on Wednesday but now have until Friday to make a decision.

This stems from a case in Texas where a judge pulled FDA approval of the drug.

It then moved to another lower court, which allowed the drug to still be used but with severe restrictions.

The Justices are now weighing whether to uphold those restrictions or keep them in place.

Congressional Democrats Wednesday denounced the restrictions and called on the high court to protect access to the abortion pill.

“This debate is about freedom and privacy,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). “We don’t want a Texas judge in our bedrooms telling us what to do.”

Medication abortions account for more than half of all abortions across the country.

“This disastrous decision not only threatens to deny millions of women access to the care they need, but it also threatens to upend our nation’s entire drug approval process,” said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO).

This comes less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, stripping federal protection for abortion.

Since then, many Republican-led states have passed new statewide abortion restrictions.

“We must not lose sight of the fact that abortion takes a human life,” said Florida State Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez (R-Miami-Dade).

Some GOP lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham have pushed for nationwide abortion restrictions.

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