Tell us what is at the heart of this case
and what the court will really be considering today.
The justices have signaled that they're not looking at completely
overturning the FDA's approval back from 2000 to allow the
use of the drug.
They say the statute of limitations is passed.
That's not part of the challenge.
But what they are looking at are regulatory changes,
which were hugely significant that the FDA made in 2016
and then again in January of 2023.
Essentially what these did were they allowed for the mailing
of this medicine?
They allowed pharmacies to dispense it.
They made it so that you're no longer required to
make multiple visits to a doctor,
but that someone who's a medical professional,
who's not a doctor could do it.
And then very importantly, they allowed mifepristone,
which is used together with misopristol and it's a sort
of A2 drug regimen to be used up to the
70th day of a pregnancy.
Previously it was 49 days.
So that quite significantly expands the availability of the drug.
And essentially this is about whether the FDA aired in
doing that.
And whether those changes can be undone,
it's important because a lot of states have banned abortion,
15 states have laws saying that a doctor has to
prescribe in their state.
So this could affect that.
This could affect basically the accessibility of these pills at
red States and blue States and it could affect the
FDA because we're talking about the FDA's autonomy and decision
making process that's had in place.