On March 26, the U.S. Supreme Court will finally hear oral arguments over the safety of mifepristone — the first drug used in a medication abortion. While experts don’t expect to hear a decision from the highest court right away, one in favor of the plaintiffs — Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine — could severely limit access to mifepristone across the country, even in states where abortions are still legal.
This would come at a time when medication abortion has become a more accessible option in a highly restrictive post-Dobbs landscape. For instance, a new Guttmacher Institute report from the Monthly Abortion Provision Study recently found that there were approximately 642,700 medication abortions in the United States in 2023, meaning they accounted for nearly 63 percent of all abortions. As women’s health specialists and doctors have told Salon before, the effects of such restrictions will be "devastating,” and have far-reaching consequences beyond impacting reproductive health. But what’s exactly at stake?
