// The Supreme Court decided to nix a couple of decades or so’s jurisprudence on abortion access with the Dobbs decision for the sake of a little experiment. They wanted to “return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives”. And with the way things are looking, the people’s representatives are judges. A Texas judge recently did his darnedest to stop the sale of mifepristone, a pill that can be used to induce abortion in the first trimester. To put it mildly, the decision has consequences that extend far beyond the parameters of the Lone Star state. The 5th Circuit recently stayed the decision, but the way it went about doing it made it a lot harder for folks to meet their healthcare needs. Law360 has coverage:

The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday it intends to seek emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court following a Fifth Circuit decision that stayed a Texas judge’s order to halt sales of the abortion pill mifepristone, but cuts off access to telehealth abortion care and bars the distribution of the pill by mail.

In a statement Thursday, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said, “The Justice Department strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA to deny in part our request for a stay pending appeal.”

“We will be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the FDA’s scientific judgment and protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care,” Garland said.

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It is worth mentioning that as dreadful as this is for autonomy, this is the scenario where the 5th Circuit actually tried to lessen the severity of what is happening:

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Basically, the 5th Circuit tried to get people less outraged by a total ban on the abortion pill by converting it to a 6 week ban on the abortion pill. And it tried to give the Supreme Court a reason to *not* intervene for a few years.

— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) April 13, 2023

This is not to say that the situation isn’t as bad as it seems. It is. Folks who have reading comprehension and give a damn about the law are pointing out that the hermeneutics these judges are applying are likely more biblical than juridical.

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The 5th circuit allowed women to take mifepristone if they were less than 7 weeks pregnant, but not if the pregnancy was between 7 and 10 weeks. Was there any scientific data to justify this arbitrary distinction? NO.

This is a decision based on a religious view, not science. https://t.co/mYzSUw5u0K

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 13, 2023

Whether or not the Supreme Court decides to acknowledge the DOJ’s request for emergency relief, however they respond will have serious stakes not only for Texans, but for pharmaceutical companies nationwide and the customers that buy their products.

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DOJ To Take 5th Circ. Abortion Pill Ruling To Supreme Court [Law360]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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Abortion, Courts, Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, Mifepristone, Supreme Court