SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — While the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to reject a lawsuit challenging the FDA's regulation of Mifepristone can be seen as a win for reproductive rights, advocates say access to the abortion pill is still at risk.
"We're feeling relief, but we also are understanding that the Supreme Court did the bare minimum here," Dr. Jill Gibson said.
Gibson is the Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Arizona, who had her training on abortion care in San Diego.
The Mifepristone abortion pill is used in over half of abortions nationwide.
"A lot of people prefer it because it can be done in the safety of their own home surrounded by loved ones and the community," said Gibson.
SCOTUS dismissed the case because the anti-abortion doctors could not show that they had been harmed by what they claim is an under-regulated medication.
"They [the doctors] don't prescribe this medication. They don't use this medication, and laws don't require them to do anything, and therefore, they were kicked out of court," Appellate Attorney Jeff Lewis said.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the group that brought the case said they are "deeply disappointed" and that "it's a sad day for all who value women's health and unborn children's lives."
However, Lewis said the court did not rule on the case's merit, which means it could be brought back before a court in the future.
"So if they found a doctor who has been forced to treat a woman who has taken this pill and this doctor wasn't able to for whatever reason recuse themselves because of their religious beliefs and actually had to treat this woman, that is the road map to getting back to the Supreme Court," Lewis explained.
In a statement to ABC 10News, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest said, "This is certainly not the end of the anti-abortion movements’ attempts to block access to abortion, but we will continue to fight to protect access to sexual and reproductive health care."
"Our guard is never going to be let down until we are able to get more concrete protections for abortion within our state and federal constitution," Gibson said.
