Supreme Court Rules Abortion Pill Is Still Legal In All States

In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned lower court rulings that would have banned or restricted the sale of mifepristone (the abortion pill). That means the pill is still legal in all 50 states.

This is a good thing, but it's not time to celebrate yet. The court did NOT rule that women have a right to the pill. They simply ruled that those who filed the case (a group of anti-abortion doctors) did not have standing to bring the case. That means the decision might be different if the case is filed again by someone the court believes does have standing.

The six right-wing justices just avoided the question in this ruling. If actually forced to rule on the legality of the abortion pill, they might vote very differently. And you can be sure the anti-abortion crowd will try again (as many times as they can). It took them 50 years to get Roe vs. Wade overturned, and they will not soon give up on trying to ban the pill. 

And banning mifepristone is just the first step. Many on the right, both in Congress and the Supreme Court, have made it clear they would like to also ban contraception. And IVF (in-vitro fertilization) is also on the chopping block. The Alabama Supreme Court has already made a ruling that stopped IVF in that state. They are not alone. The largest evangelical church has just voted to make opposition to IVF a tenet of their religious organization.

Both the political right and the religious right seem determined to restrict women's rights in this country. The overturning of Roe vs. Wade was just the beginning.  We must be prepared for a long fight on these issues as long as the Republicans have the power to block efforts to make sure women have equal rights.

Fortunately, President Biden understands this. Here is part of the statement he released about this latest decision of the court:

It does mean that mifepristone, or medication abortion, remains available and approved. Women can continue to access this medication – approved by the FDA as safe and effective more than 20 years ago. 

But let’s be clear: attacks on medication abortion are part of Republican elected officials’ extreme and dangerous agenda to ban abortion nationwide. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Republican elected officials have imposed extreme abortion bans in 21 states, some of which include zero exceptions for rape or incest. Women are being turned away from emergency rooms, or forced to go to court to plead for care that their doctor recommended or to travel hundreds of miles for care. Doctors and nurses are being threatened with jail time, including life in prison, for providing the health care they have been trained to provide. And contraception and IVF are under attack.

The stakes could not be higher for women across America. Vice President Harris and I stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to make deeply personal health care decisions. We will continue to fight to ensure that women in every state get the health care they need and we will continue to call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law — that is our commitment.

GOP Created The IVF Ban - And They Have No Way To Fix It

For five decades, most in the Republican Party opposed the right for women to choose to have an abortion. Why? What was their reasoning? It couldn't be that they didn't believe women should have the same rights as men, since the Constitution guarantees equal rights for all citizens. The only justification they had was the belief that life did not begin at birth, but at conception (which meant the embryo was a child and aborting it was murder). But they didn't think that argument through to its logical conclusion.

Last week, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were "children". That's because in the process known as in vitro fertilization (IVF) an egg is removed from a women and fertilized with a man's sperm. This means conception has occurred.

This decision (which was correct if one believes in life beginning at conception) has had a chilling effect on IVF, and IVF clinics have stopped operating in Alabama. IVF is not foolproof and doesn't always work the first time. Many embryos are created so a woman can have a better chance at having a real baby born, and the extra embryos are frozen for future use if the first time results in failure.

But not every embryo survives the freezing and thawing process. If the embryo does not survive the process, has a "child" been murdered? Yes, if the Alabama decision is correct. And even if an embryo survives the process, not all will be used. What about the unused ones. If they are disposed of, has a "child" been murdered? Yes, if the Alabama decision is correct. Are the unused embryos to be kept in perpetuity? Wouldn't that be denying "children" the right to be born?

This is now a mess! The decision, based on life beginning at conception, is going to effectively ban IVF procedures in every state that bans abortion. And the Republicans have stated their desire to ban abortion in all 50 states because of their belief that life begins at conception.

Even most Republicans don't want IVF procedures banned. They know it is the only way for many families to have a child or children. 

How are Republicans going to fix this mess? There is no fix if they truly believe life begins at conception. And if they don't, then there is no reason to deny a woman the right to control her own body.

This is not going to play well for them in the coming election. A majority of Americans already support the right to an abortion, and even more support the right to have an IVF procedure.

Donald Trump has been bragging to his followers that he is solely responsible for overturning Roe vs Wade (which led to abortion being banned in many states). He says he's responsible because he chose three anti-abortion Supreme Court justices. That makes him also responsible for banning the IVF procedure in Alabama (and in many other red states in the future).

The Republicans created this mess, and they have no way to fix it.