In times like these, it’s important to take pleasure in the little things — like the fact that Monday was probably not a great day for Samuel Alito. The Supreme Court justice, who always looks like he just got a parking ticket, has been the best friend the anti-abortion movement could ever hope for. In 2022, he handed them a ruling that ended abortion rights, which was so breathtaking in its contempt for women’s humanity that he even cited jurists from the 13th and 17th centuries who argued that women’s “position is inferior to that of men,” defended men who raped their wives and prosecuted women for witchcraft.
But these contributions to the field of legal misogyny did not buy Alito any grace with the religious right on Monday when he stayed a Fifth Circuit Court ruling that would have restricted women’s access to safe abortion pills to in-person prescriptions. The stay allowing mifepristone prescriptions via telehealth appointments and sent through the mail is brief — it expires after just one week — and yet the anti-abortion crowd lost their minds. Leaders of anti-choice groups flooded social media with outraged posts, accusing Alito and President Donald Trump of betraying their cause. They also demanded the firing of Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary because he hasn’t yet rejected the science that shows the pills are safe.
