7:23
Turning now to the issue of abortion as the Supreme Court temporarily restored full access nationwide to the abortion pill mythopristone granting the pills manufacturers a week-long stay after the fifth circuit court of appeals on Friday blocked a Biden era rule that allowed the drug to be dispensed through the mail effectively allowing it to be sent to states with strict abortion bans. Medication abortions using myth missifone account for more than half of all abortions in the US. In 2024, the Supreme Court rejected an attempt to overturn the FDA approval of methapristone, saying those who challenged the drug's approval did not
have standing to sue. Joining me now is senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett and our health reporter Arya Bendix. Uh Laura, so the Supreme Court has paused the appeals court ruling. What does that allow for and could that stay be extended if the court ultimately hears arguments and rules on this issue? Yeah. Hey Ryan, the best way to think about this is a pause essentially to allow the status quo, everything operates like normal. The pill stays on the market. You can still receive it through the mail. You can still do tellaalth. And this allows Louisiana, which was the one that challenged the rule in the first place, a chance to now respond to the drug makers who are saying, "Please, justices, do not allow this to happen."
Now, Louisiana is going to get their shot to tell the justices why they think the lower court actually got it right. Now, we don't know yet whether the justices will ultimately take this case up, but the fact that they've done this stay to allow a cooling off period does suggest that they are willing to at least entertain some back and forth on this. Ryan, and this request to the court is coming from the drug makers themselves as opposed to patients or providers. How does that impact the case or the arguments around it? Yeah, the drug makers here have been a big player even in that case two years ago as you mentioned in all the litigation around meristone Dano is one of the main players here. Jen Biopro another one. Um
and they're the ones who are saying look we have the vested interest in here. We're the ones that essentially are the keys to the market here and are most affected um when you start making wholesale changes to whether it can be on the market or it can be sent through the mail. Obviously doctors, patients we've heard a lot from over the weekend about this as well. They have a vested interest too, but the drug makers themselves are the ones who obviously are bringing this to Scotas. And so they the one who's sort of teed it up for the justices, if you will. And Laura, the court has been somewhat reluctant to get into specifics on the issue of abortion since the overturning of Roie Wade. They did,
however, block a challenge to the FDA approval of methone back in 2024. Should we read into that? Could that be a precedent for this case? Yeah, if folks at home are wondering like, didn't we already do this all over again? That was a different case because it was brought by anti-abortion advocates and doctors who never had any intention of using mythopro stone or desri or prescribing it at all. They just wanted it completely wholesale off the market. And in that case, the Supreme Court said, you don't have any standing. You don't have any vested interest in here because you don't
actually want to use methopristone. This one is narrower, right? because it's just about being able to prescribe it via teleahalth and being able to send it through the mail and so the justices may treat it a little bit differently and they may look at that standing issue differently but we won't know until in fact they decide to take it up Ryan which I imagine they will do and what's the timeline how soon will we know if they're going to take it up and then if they do take it up how long will be before they have some sort of clarification on this right so we have this one weekek pause to allow Louisiana to make its case so we will know by this time next week next Monday, probably within the next half an
hours on by this time next Monday, what in fact they want to do, but they don't have to decide to hear it this spring, right? We're already well into this term. They usually decide the biggest cases by the end of June or early July. So, they may say, "Look, we're going to just keep this stay, keep the status quo, and decide to hear it next fall." Okay, that's great. Thank you, Laura, for that. We appreciate it. Ariel, let's turn to you now, and let's talk about the push from abortion opponents and how that differs from the case we saw in 2024. Why are they so focused on the drug mythopristone?
Right. So, as Laura outlined, it was a much bigger swing that anti-abortion groups were taking in 2024, essentially seeking a full ban on mythopristone. This case is a little different because it is seeking to challenge just one FDA regulation that allows meristone to be prescribed via teaalth and then sent to patients in the mail. Now as for the question of why mythopristone, it's in many ways an easier target than the other drug involved in a medication abortion known as misoprosttol. For one thing, methipristone is part of a drug safety program through the FDA called REM, which can place additional restrictions on how it's used. And the
methapristone is used primarily for abortions and miscarriage management, whereas misoprosttol has a range of other medical uses that would make it much trickier to ban or restrict access. But is there any evidence to suggest that MFA pristone use at home could be dangerous? I mean, what are the potential ramifications for tellaalth and people who may not live near a doctor's office or even in a state where abortion remains legal, right? So, tellahalth was a gamecher for people in rural areas or who didn't have the money or time to travel to an in-person abortion clinic. It was also largely responsible for maintaining abortion access in the wake of the DOS decision. But we do have data in addition to expanding access we know
it's safe and effective as safe and effective in fact as taking methopristone in person in a clinic. The important point in both cases is to see a doctor and have a consultation first whether that's via telealth or in person and just talk to us broadly about how significant this is in the fight over abortion access especially considering that the president has repeatedly said he's not in favor of a national ban but that the issue should be left to states. Right. This is arguably the biggest attack on abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roie Wade four years ago. We had a brief period over the weekend where abortion providers were scrambling to consult their legal
teams to see whether they could actually send out abortion pills that they had already earmarked to ship. So, lots of chaos and confusion. But I should note that abortion providers weren't completely surprised by this decision. Many had already been making contingency plans and several told me today they still plan to offer teleahalth abortion in all 50 states regardless of how this Louisiana lawsuit plays out. Ryan, and just one more for you before you go. Ara, you mentioned that this is also used to treat miscarriages. Would miscarriage treatment also be covered under this ruling? Could there be a danger for women dealing with that if this uh ruling went in favor of the anti-abortion lobby? Yeah, there's the
same fear here that we had in the 2024 legal case that it could have some downstream effects. If this case restricts access to mephristone, then people who want to use mephiprristone for reasons other than an abortion might not be able to get their hands on it. But that's a hypothetical concern right now and right now abortion providers are interested in making sure that this drug is available to anyone who wants it. Okay, Arya Bendex, thank you so much for your reporting. We appreciate it. We thank you for watching and remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.
