Supreme Court Lets Abortion Pill Remain on Market, for Now

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked lower court orders that would limit access to the abortion drug mifepristone beginning Saturday, preserving current availability while it weighs the Biden administration’s emergency request to leave current Food and Drug Administration approvals in place during an ongoing legal battle with antiabortion groups.

In a pair of orders, Justice Samuel Alito, who oversees emergency matters for the lower courts that limited or suspended approval of the widely used abortion pill, gave the antiabortion groups until noon Tuesday to file briefs in response to appeals filed on Friday by the FDA and Danco Laboratories LLC, which makes the branded version Mifeprex.

The temporary order expires at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, suggesting a high court decision on whether and to what extent mifepristone will remain available during litigation may come by then.