The United States Supreme Court ruled today in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that a group of doctors did not have standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) relaxed regulations regarding the distribution of dangerous abortion drugs.

Despite the headlines you may see today, it’s important to note this was a procedural decision and not a decision on the merits of the FDA regulations. The Court did affirm the freedom of doctors and other medical professionals to decline to participate in an abortion or other procedures that violate their consciences.

While the ruling was disappointing, it brought national attention to the truth that countless women and girls continue to face the catastrophic consequences of taking unregulated abortion drugs without a doctor’s supervision.

“Americans should be able to trust government health agencies to act in the interest of women’s and girls’ safety. Abortion drugs are dangerous enough, but the FDA made a series of ideological decisions that put women and girls at even greater risk,” said Center for Arizona Policy President Cathi Herrod. “The FDA relaxed safety requirements so radically that under the Biden Administration, pregnant women are now able to receive these dangerous drugs in the mail from foreign countries and take them alone without medical oversight. Up to one in 25 women and girls are forced to visit the emergency room after taking these drugs, so removing safeguards was an unconscionable act.”

Center for Arizona Policy joined an amicus brief to the Supreme Court arguing the FDA unlawfully removed its own safety precautions, leaving women to dangerous self-managed abortions.

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