FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 21, 2023

Contact: William Lutz 202-785-5100

SCOTUS Known for the Overturn of Roe v. Wade, Blocks Lower Court Rulings and Preserves Access to Medication Abortion for Millions of American Women

Washington, D.C. — The Institute for Women’s Policy Research today released the following statement after the Supreme Court blocked a controversial ruling from a conservative judge overturning the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, a commonly used drug for medication abortions.

“Today, women in America got a brief reprieve from the far right’s relentless campaign to turn back the clock on women’s reproductive freedom. Apparently, overruling the FDA in a desperate bid to block women’s access to mifepristone, a widely-used drug for medication abortions, was a step too far even for a Supreme Court whose legacy will always be the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Approval of the drug had been blocked by a single conservative judge in a ludicrous and widely-criticized legal decision just a few weeks ago.

“Mifepristone has been widely studied and proven safer than many other common prescription drugs. More than four million women have used it safely and it accounts for over half of all abortions in the US. Conservatives seeking to block access to the drug are not concerned about women’s safety; they want to impose their own ideology on women in this country and prevent them from making their own reproductive health care decisions.

“The Supreme Court’s decision preserving access to mifepristone is not the end of this story and women should fully expect these assaults on the reproductive freedom to continue.”

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research strives to win economic equity for all women and eliminate barriers to their full participation in society. As a leading national think tank, IWPR builds evidence to shape policies that grow women’s power and influence, close inequality gaps, and improve the economic well-being of families. Learn more at IWPR.org and follow us on Twitter.